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THE 



Military Occupation 



OF THE 



Coal Strike Zone of Colorado 



BY THE 



Colorado National Guard 



1913-1914 



REPORT OF THE COMMANDING GENERAL TO 

THE GOVERNOR FOR THE USE OF THE 

CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE 



Exhibiting an Account of the Military Occupation 

to the Time of the First Withdrawal of 

the Troops in April, 1914 



PRESS OF 

THE SMITH-BROOKS PRINTING COMPANY 

DENVER, COLO, 



THE 



Military Occupation 



OF THE 



Coal Strike Zone of Colorado 



BY THE 



Colorado National Guard 

1913-1914 



REPORT OF THE COMMANDING GENERAL TO 

THE GOVERNOR FOR THE USE OF THE 

CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE 



Exhibiting an Account of the Military Occupation 

to the Time of the First Withdrawal of 

the Troops in April, 191U 

" ■ <f - ,V 

PRESS OF 

THE SMITH-BROOKS PRINTING COMPANY 

DENVER, COLO. 



7rT 






L- 



JUN 22 »914 



FOREWORD 

I am directed to prefix to the report that follows 
a word of explanation. 

A committee of the House of Representatives in 
the Sixty-third Congress investigated strike condi- 
tions in Colorado. They were not investigating the 
National Guard, Imt a mass of testimony w T as pre- 
sented to the committee supporting a very bitter 
attack upon the state troops. To this attack and this 
testimony the National Guard paid little or no atten- 
tion. At the conclusion of the committee's sittings in 
Colorado, His Excellency, the Governor and Com- 
mander-in-Chief, directed the Commanding General to 
review the testimony presented to the Congressional 
Committee and to investigate and report the truth of 
all the charges and accusations made against the mili- 
tary arm of the state. The following report is the 
result of that order. It was prepared by the Com- 
manding General after careful investigation, and 
transmitted to the Congressional Committee by the 
Governor for the purpose of aiding that body to arrive 
at a true and just estimate of the military situation. 
The Governor's letter of transmittal accompanying the 
report to Washington precedes the report itself. 

Inasmuch as this report exhibits a fairly detailed 
history of the military occupation almost to the time 
of the first withdrawal of the troops, and contains 
matter that cannot fail of interest to all the people, 
it was directed to be printed in the present form for 
general public distribution. 

EDWARD J. BOUGHTON, 

Major and Judge Advocate of the 
Military District of Colorado. 



THE GOVERNORS LETTER 

To the Chairman of the House Committee on Mines and 
Mining of the Sixty-third Congress 

April 6, 1914. 

Hon. M. D. Foster, 

Chairman, Mines and Mining Committee, 
Washington, D. C. 
Dear Mr. Foster : 

By my direction General John Chase, command- 
ing the National Guard in the strike zone, has pre- 
pared a statement of the operations of the Guard, and 
I herewith enclose it, pursuant to conversation I had 
with you at the time of your departure for Washing- 
ton. I have looked over this statement, and believe it 
to be a very fair and reliable presentation of the facts. 
I sincerely hope it will be of value to jour committee 
in arriving at a true understanding of the situation in 
Colorado. 

With best personal regards, I am 
Sincerely yours, 




REPORT 



OF THE 



COMMANDING GENERAL 

TO THE GOVERNOR 



FOR THE USE OF 



THE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE 



TO THE HONORABLE ELIAS M. AMMONS, 

GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF COLORADO. 

Your Excellency : The Committee on Mines and 
Mining of the House of Representatives in the LXIII 
Congress, having been authorized to inquire of certain 
matters connected with the present strike in the coal 
fields of Colorado, and having in their investigations 
touched upon certain matters connected with the 
military occupation and the conduct of the Colorado 
National Guard, Your Excellency directed me to sub- 
mit for the use of the Committee a brief report of the 
peace conditions, military operations, conduct of the 
troops, and such information in my possession as 
might aid or interest the Committee in the accomplish- 
ment of its errand under the House Resolution. 

Accordingly and in obedience to Your Excel- 
lency's directions, I have made careful, and in most 
instances personal, investigation along the lines sug- 



6 



gested, have accumulated and arranged the great mass 
of information that has come to me as commander of 
the state troops in the field, and beg leave to submit 
the following report. 

For convenience of treatment, the report is 
divided into the following parts : 

I. The general peace conditions existing in the 
disturbed region upon the calling out of the state 
troops. 

II. A very brief outline of the principal incidents 
of the military occupation. 

III. A succinct statement of certain military poli- 
cies with respect to some matters inquired of or 
brought to the attention of the Congressional Com- 
mittee. 

IV. A report upon some specific incidents in the 
conduct of the military, brought to the attention of 
the Congressional Committee. 

An appendix is added to the report, in which are 
collated and copied certain orders, reports, and other 
documents referred to herein. 



I 

GENERAL CONDITIONS AT THE OUTSET 

In 1910 a strike was declared in Boulder Comity, 
Colorado. This strike is still in existence. Deeds of 
violence have been committed by both sides to the 
controversy almost from the date of the strike to the 
present time. The operators in Boulder County 
repeatedly called upon the then Governor of the state, 
Hon. John F. Shafroth, for protection of their lives 
and property. Controversial correspondence was car- 
ried on between the Governor, the sheriff of the 
county, and the mayors of the villages involved, with 
the strike leaders and with the operators in that 
county. At times the peace officers seemed able to 
control the violent individuals on both sides of the 
controversy, and at other times seemed wholly unable 
to do so. An utter contempt for legal processes and 
ordinary peace measures has for four years been ex- 
hibited in this section of the state. At one time a 
district judge incarcerated for a period of several 
months sixteen strike leaders whom he adjudged to be 
in contempt of his court for flagrantly and defiantly 
violating an injunction against picketing. This judg- 
ment was made the occasion of a demonstration by the 
strikers in parading around the courthouse in great 
force, as an intimidation to the civil authority; and 
the doctrine was inculcated that allegiance should be 
paid to the union rather than to the state or country. 

Because of the failure to effect a settlement be- 
tween the parties to the controversy in the northern 
coal fields, a strike in the southern zone was precipi- 
tated in August, 1913. On account of threatened vio- 



s 



lence to the properties of the operators and the lives 
of the workmen about the mines, the sheriffs of Huer- 
fano and Las Animas Counties, being appealed to by 
the owners of the mines, placed on duty a large num- 
ber of deputy sheriffs. The strike leaders selected stra- 
tegic points for the establishment of the tent colonies 
which were made necessary by the departure of 
strikers from their homes on the mine premises. 
Nearly every one of these tent colonies was so placed 
that it commanded ingress and egress to and from the 
mines located in the canon near by. The location of 
the colonies was not an accident, and, in view of the 
statute regarding picketing; it would seem that it was 
a deliberate attempt, on the part of those responsible 
for the placing of the camps, to bring about a thorough 
system of picketing without apparently violating the 
law. The canvas for the tents had hardly been raised 
before deeds of violence were reported from the 
vicinity of nearly every one of the colonies. Addi- 
tional mine guards were placed about the properties 
to secure the safety of such workmen as were passing 
the colonies to work. There is no question but that 
there were instances where the mine guards unneces- 
sarily provoked the residents of the tent colonies. 
These latter, in turn, seemed honestly to believe that 
they and their families were in danger from the mine 
guards. They, therefore, armed themselves for pro- 
tection. As instances of violence increased, the op- 
posing parties to the controversy became violently 
aroused. For at least ten days prior to the calling 
out of the National Guard a condition of absolute 
terror prevailed in the mining camps and in the tent 
colonies. At least four pitched battles occurred, and 



9 



at least nine men were known to have been murdered 
and a large number wounded. The civil authorities 
seemed, and, indeed, represented to Your Excellency, 
that they were wholly unable to do anything for the 
preservation of peace. A large number of battles had 
taken place throughout the two counties. Anarchy 
reigned supreme. No attention was paid to the courts 
or the civil peace officers whatever. People were 
arrested and detained in the tent colonies, and the 
sheriff, armed with civil process, was frankly informed 
that he would not be permitted to serve it. With all 
the deputies at his command, the sheriff was unable 
to discharge his usual duties without battle. This 
awful state of affairs Avas represented to Your Excel- 
lency by all of the civil authorities charged with the 
preservation of the peace. The sheriffs of both coun- 
ties, the judge of the District Court, mayors, alder- 
men, county officers, and numerous citizens — sympa- 
thizers with each side of the industrial conflict — im- 
plored Y r our Excellency to use the power of the state 
to end the open defiance of the constitution and laws. 
Accordingly, Your Excellency directed me by 
executive order to mobilize the National Guard, and 
to enforce the constitution and laws, acting either in 
conjunction with or independently of the civil authori- 
ties, doing all such things as in my judgment seemed 
necessary to conserve the peace and vindicate the dig- 
nity of the state. I proceeded with- the National 
Guard to Huerfano and Las Animas Counties on the 
28th of October, 1913. I found the conditions even 
worse than had been described to Your Excellency. 
I found two bodies of men in large numbers, fully 
armed, with the intensest hatred of each other in their 



10 



hearts, ready to fly at each other's throats. The thirst 
for blood was unmistakably evident, as were the signs 
of an habitual and long-continued disregard and con- 
tempt for all civil government. The mining camps 
and tent colonies, though very numerous, were de- 
tached and widely separated over two large counties, 
the district presenting a front of about 100 miles. The 
military problem entrusted to me was interesting. 
With the all too meager force at my command, I was 
able, without bloodshed, to occupy this territory, re- 
establish the constitution, and enforce a sullen peace. 
The problems that developed day by day have been 
difficult and often delicate, and when the time came 
that there was added to our other difficulties the 
burden of deliberate deceit and misrepresentation, 
widely promulgated through the press bureau of the 
unions, our cup of tribulation nearly overflowed. In 
the discharge of our duties to the state as citizens, this 
volunteer force has had to go on silently in the accom- 
plishment of the patriotic errand entrusted to it, 
under abuse and frequent scurrilous attacks, without 
a press bureau for the dissemination of the truth, 
often being placed in false light and false position 
before the public. But, at the end of all, the mission 
has been accomplished, and the state may well feel 
proud of its National Guard, whose members, uncom- 
plainingly and at the cost of great personal sacrifice, 
have served the state so well in its hour of need. 



II 

HISTORY OF OPERATIONS 

Under this head no attempt is made to detail the 
daily occurrences and the daily and eyen hourly devel- 
opments in the peace problem. Only a bare outline 
of the principal events can be undertaken. 

Having moved the troops into the field and find- 
ing the situation in the disturbed counties as I have 
indicated above, my first effort was so to distribute 
the relatively meager forces at my command as to pro- 
tect the entire line of one hundred miles front. Bear- 
ing in mind that my sole and only object was to carry 
out the orders of Your Excellency, and enforce peace 
and the observance of the constitution and laws of the 
State of Colorado, without reference to any incidental 
effect upon either side of the industrial conflict, my 
only desire was to accomplish my mission without 
bloodshed or the clash of arms, if possible. With two 
regiments of infantry — not, however, fully recruited — 
three troops of cavalry, one detachment of the field 
artillery, the hospital corps and signal corps, we 
arrived in the disturbed region on the morning of the 
29th of October, 1913. 

I established one base camp upon the outskirts of 
the city of Trinidad in Las Animas County, and 
another base camp at Walsenburg in Huerfano 
County. 

SOUTHWESTERN MINE AND POST-OFFICE ARSON 

While these necessary routine operations were 
progressing, and during the night of the 29th of Oc- 
tober, our first day in the field, a conspiracy was 



12 



formed among certain strikers at Aguilar, which re- 
sulted in a band of men going to the near-by South- 
western mine, pouring oil upon the tipple and mine 
buildings, setting fire thereto and destroying that 
property, and incidentally the adjacent United States 
post-office, with the mail contained therein. For a 
long time thereafter it was impossible to discover the 
perpetrators of this arson, but months later, through 
the efforts of the Judge Advocate's office and the Mili- 
tary Commission, the offenders were apprehended and 
turned over the United States marshal, upon the re- 
quest of the Department of Justice of the United 
States. 

DISARMAMENT 

On the 31st day of October, the third day of the 
occupation, when the establishment of the military 
camps was well under way, I undertook, pursuant to 
Your Excellency's express directions, to disarm both 
sides of the conflict that I found raging upon my 
arrival. Realizing that in the event of the conceal- 
ment of their weapons I would have great difficulty 
in disarming the combatants, I consulted the strike 
leaders, including John R. Lawson, and obtained 
from them, and especially from him, an assurance 
that if I first disarmed the mine guards employed 
through the Baldwin-Felts Detective Agency to guard 
the operators' properties, the strikers would then 
cheerfully surrender the arms in their possession. It 
must be remembered that, upon our first coming into 
the field, the National Guard had at least the osten- 
sible welcome and apparent cordial co-operation of 
the striking miners. Relying upon the assurances 



13 



iiiven me by Mr. Lawson and the other strike leaders, 
I proceeded to disarm the mine guards upon the 
various properties, against whom the most bitter feel- 
ing of the strikers prevailed. In the disarmament of 
these mine guards I had no difficulty whatever. They 
were assembled by their employers, the operating com- 
panies, and promptly turned over the high-power 
rifles with which they had been supplied. This dis- 
armament I carried on with respect to the mine guards 
and employes of the operating companies in every 
camp throughout the entire strike zone, and speedily 
finished the complete disarmament of that side of the 
industrial conflict, 

It was arranged, upon the completion of the dis- 
armament of the operators, that the military receive 
the arms of the strikers, and accordingly, upon the 1st 
of November, 1913, by an. agreement between myself 
and the strike leaders, a parade of the troops to the 
tent colony at Ludlow, by far the largest of the 
strikers' colonies, was arranged. From all appear- 
ances the very best feeling prevailed between the 
troops and the strikers. I paraded detachments of the 
troops of various arms within Las Animas County at 
the Ludlow tent colony, upon the suggestion and invi- 
tation of the strike leaders, including Mr. Lawson. 
My object was not only to receive the arms of the 
strikers, as promised, but to occupy peaceably and 
with good feeling the strategic points in the canons 
about Ludlow, which the presence of so large a body 
of armed men might have made difficult of accomplish- 
ment without bloodshed, had my entrance been dis- 
puted. 



14 



The parade of the troops at the Ludlow tent 
colony was memorable. The road for a half-mile or 
more between the point of detraining and the entrance 
to the colony was lined on either side by men, women, 
and children. Many of the men were in the strange 
costume of the Greek, Montenegrin, Servian, and Bul- 
garian armies ; for the colony numbered among its in- 
habitants many returned veterans of the Balkan Avars. 
The little children were dressed in white, as for a Sun- 
day-school picnic. All carried small American flags 
and sang continually the Union songs. Through this 
line of men, women, and children the troops paraded — 
infantry, cavalry, and field artillery. Flags were 
waved in welcome, and an improvised band of the 
strikers heralded our approach. 

We passed by Ludlow, occupied the Berwind and 
Hastings canons, and then returned to the colony to 
receive the surrender of the hundreds of high-power 
rifles I knew the strikers to be possessed of. At this 
point occurred the first instance of bad faith on the 
part of the striking people. Expecting to receive 
hundreds, if not thousands, of arms, there were de- 
livered into my possession some twenty or thirty 
weapons, many of them of obsolete pattern, the 
strikers topping off the humor of the situation by in- 
cluding in the delivery of arms a child's toy pop-gun. 
Since that time the recovery of the strikers' arms has 
been attended with the greatest difficulty ; it has been 
a game of hide-and-seek, and while I have been able 
to recover, a few at a time, a large number of high- 
power weapons, belonging to the union, from various 
hiding places, I will state that there are hundreds of 
guns still concealed and waiting occasion for use. 



15 

CORONADO RIOT 

In the meantime I had upon my hands a large 
number of the mine guards whom I had disarmed, and 
who, being defenseless in the presence of enemies 
thirsting for their blood, had to receive protection. 
These mine guards I undertook to ship out of the 
strike zone. For that purpose I assembled a number 
of them in Trinidad. On the evening of the 31st of 
October I had in the Coronado Hotel at Trinidad a 
number of mine guards who had been disarmed and 
were awaiting a train to take them out of the country. 
Notwithstanding the representations made to me con- 
cerning the disarmament of the detested mine guards, 
and when I had rendered them helpless by disarming 
them, all of which was known to the striking miners, 
a great crowd gathered around the Coronado Hotel in 
which these disarmed men were contained, for the 
avowed purpose of reeking condign vengeance upon 
their enemies, thus, as they supposed, delivered into 
their hands. Some five or six hundred men assembled 
around the Coronado Hotel with the express design 
of killing the disarmed and defenseless guards within. 
This is what is known as the Coronado Hotel riot. 
Notwithstanding all of the fair promises of Mr. Law- 
son and other strike leaders that induced me to dis- 
arm the mine guards first, they then rather gleefully 
assured me that they could not control their people, 
and that the feeling among the strikers, thirsting for 
the blood of the mine guards, was such as could not be 
stayed by any influence of the leaders. I found it 
necessary upon this occasion to assemble infantry and 
cavalry in the streets of Trinidad, and to disperse the 



16 



mob thus bent upon wholesale murder, and to protect 
the disarmed mine guards until they could take the 
train out of the district. Fortunately, I was able to 
quell this riot and prevent large loss of life without 
bloodshed or other serious consequences than a few 
arrests. 

From this time forward, from the breach of faith 
concerning the disarmament, until this day, the 
history of the strike leaders has been a record of bad 
faith, subterfuge, misrepresentation, and chicanery 
with the military forces of the state, who entered the 
field taking no sides, having no interest in the in- 
dustrial conflict, intent only upon preserving the 
peace and guaranteeing the constitution, until by 
these methods the striking miners have come to look 
upon the National Guard as a foe, in league with their 
antagonist, and the Guard has come to know that no 
faith can be placed, and no honesty or integrity of 
purpose can be found, in the strikers' camps, as con- 
ducted by their present leaders. And I say this, 
having no interest whatsoever in the industrial con- 
flict still raging. 

SHOOTING AT FORBES 

On the 5th of November the camp at Forbes was 
fired upon by the striking miners, and I found it neces- 
sary to send a company of infantry to that camp, 
which has received military protection ever since. 

ARMIJO MURDER 

On the 8th of November one Pedro Armijo was 
murdered near the tent colony at Aguilar. Armijo 



17 



was a non-union workman, who, upon that day, was 
visiting relatives in Aguilar. This town, one of the 
largest in the district, was inhabited almost exclu- 
sively by union people. It has been the center and 
hotbed of disorder during the entire campaign. A 
committee of the Aguilar local union was sent to 
Armijo to urge him to join the union. This committee, 
comprising the president and treasurer of the union 
and one other, frankly told Armijo that it was highly 
dangerous for him to stay in Aguilar unless he took a 
union card. Armijo, however, was not to be intimi- 
dated, and flatly refused to join. While the committee 
was inside the house, threatening Armijo, a large 
crowd of men assembled in the street. The town 
marshal, a very radical union sympathizer, was then 
sent by the union committee to deport Armijo from 
the town. The marshal took him out of his relatives' 
house and, followed by the crowd, escorted him 
through the streets of Aguilar in the direction of the 
tent colony on the outskirts of the town. Before 
reaching the colony, the marshal turned Armijo loose 
and sent him upon his way toward the camp of his 
enemies. The unfortunate man was thrust into the 
jaws of death. Passing along by the tent colony, and 
about an eighth of a mile from where the marshal left 
him, he was murdered in his tracks by a gunshot. 
Instantly both the crowd from town and the inhabi- 
tants of the tent colony surrounded the body. That 
the killing Avas planned and advertised there can be 
no doubt. The tent colony people and the idle men 
from the town were upon the ground to see the fun. 
If the murder had been deliberately planned by the 
town marshal and the union committee, they could 



18 

not have acted with greater care to insure its success. 
Upon the examination of these men before the Mili- 
tary Commission, they were most reluctant and un- 
reliable witnesses as to the occurrences of that morn- 
ing, giving a decided impression that they knew much 
more than they were willing to tell. 

SMITH ASSAULT 

On the same day, November 8, Herbert Smith, a 
mine clerk at the McLaughlin mine near Trinidad, 
was overtaken upon his road home by three or four 
striking miners, and very brutally and severely beaten, 
so that at one time there was a question of his 
recovery. No reason for the assault existed other 
than that Smith was at work, and was considered a 
scab. The guilty parties were apprehended, and, 
upon recommendation of the Military Commission, 
detained for a while and then turned over to the civil 
authorities. 

LA VETA KILLING 

Also on November 8 occurred what has since been 
known as the La Veta killing, when three mine guards 
and the driver of their car were shot and killed with- 
out warning. 

One John Flockhart, the local representative of 
the United Mine Workers at La Veta in Huerfano 
County, learning that William Gambling, a mine 
guard, was coming to La Veta to have dental work 
done, with the assistance of Charles Richards and 
Peter Rich, assembled a number of the strikers, sup- 
plied them with guns and ammunition from his pri- 
vate residence, intercepted Gambling by forcibly 



19 



taking him from a hack, and then conducted him to 
Miners' Union Hall, where they undertook to make 
him join the union. Gambling was, however, per- 
mitted to telephone to the other mine guards on duty 
in the vicinity, who at once came to his rescue 
in an automobile. The armed party, under the 
leadership of Charles Richards, a professed expert 
shot, proceeded to the outskirts of the village and took 
up their position behind an embankment a few hun- 
dred yards from the county road, along which the 
mine guards must pass. 

The guards passed into the village without moles- 
tation, took Gambling into their car, and quietly 
drove away within five minutes after their arrival. 
The party on returning from La Veta was com- 
posed of three mine guards, Gambling, and the 
chauffeur. When arrived at a turn in the road, about 
a half-mile from La Veta, in full view of the detach- 
ment of strikers stationed behind the crown of the 
adjacent hill, a fusillade of shots was rained upon 
them. The guards tried to return the fire, but could 
see nothing of their assailants. Of those in the auto- 
mobile four were shot and killed. Gambling, though 
wounded, was the only one of the party to escape the 
slaughter. 

I at once sent a detachment to this locality to 
care for the dead and apprehend the murderers. 
As a result, Charles Richards, Charles Shepherd, Peter 
Rich, Sam St. John, and Jose Chavez were arrested. 
Upon examination they acknowledged the shooting. 
These men are now held for trial on the charge of 
murder. Flockhart disappeared immediately after 
the killing, being given the necessary funds for 



20 



transportation by the union at Walsenburg, and is 
still a fugitive from justice. It may be well to remark 
that a large number of the inhabitants of La Veta 
were apprised of the coining killing and witnessed it 
from points of advantage, their advance information 
emanating from Flockhart and other leaders. 

PIEDMONT DYNAMITING 

On the 18th of November the house of one 
Domenik Peffello at Piedmont was destroyed by dyna- 
mite. Peffello had been an active union man, but had 
deserted the ranks of the strikers and returned to 
work. 

BELCHER ASSASSINATION 

Two days later, on the evening of November 20, 
occurred the assassination of George Belcher in the 
streets of Trinidad. Belcher had been one of the 
leaders or foremen of the mine guards employed by 
the operators through the Baldwin-Felts Detective 
Agency. I have already described the feeling that 
existed on the part of the strikers toward these mine 
guards. This feeling was concentrated and centered 
in a deep hatred of their leader, Belcher. Rumors 
were afloat for many days before his murder 
that he and Belk, another mine-guard leader, were 
shortly to be assassinated. About half-past seven 
in the evening, which in Trinidad is the busiest 
and most crowded hour of the day, on the main corner 
of the city, at the intersection of Main and Commer- 
cial Streets, beneath an arc light that hangs in the 
middle of the street, and in the presence of perhaps a 



21 



hundred onlookers, Belcher was shot from behind as 
he was walking across the street, by a Tyrolean Italian 
named Louis Zancanelli. 

Belcher fell instantly. His blood flooded the 
pavement, and his brains protruded from the bullet 
wound through his head. He expired almost at once. 
It happened that I myself and the Judge Advocate 
were present in the immediate vicinity at the time of 
this occurrence, and saw Belcher before he died. 
Zancanelli was taken on the spot, and within five min- 
utes of the occurrence was interviewed by myself and 
the Judge Advocate at the city jail. For five days he 
sullenly denied any knowledge of the murder, at the 
end of which time he voluntarily sent for me with the 
announcement that he had a confession to make. His 
confession was astounding, and was gratuitously of- 
fered, not as a result of any third-degree methods of 
examination or any promise of clemency. He was a 
psychological study, and he was treated with great 
kindness ; for it was believed that only by such means 
could he be induced to tell what he knew. The result 
proved that to be the case. He stated to me and to the 
Judge Advocate, and later to the Military Commis- 
sion, that he had been hired to kill Belcher and Belk 
by one Anthony B. McGary and one Sam Carter. 
These two men were, and perhaps are yet, interna- 
tional organizers of the United Mine Workers of 
America. Zancanelli's story proceeded as follows: 
That McGary and Carter had made several trips to 
Ludlow, where Zancanelli lived, to offer him this em- 
ployment. They offered the job likewise to one Mario 
Zeni, his tent-mate. Zancanelli at first declined, but 
Zeni accepted and came to Trinidad to do the deed. A 



22 



week afterwards Zancanelli came likewise, and was 
told by Zeni that he had not had an opportunity to 
accomplish the murder. McGary and Carter met 
Zancanelli in Trinidad and played upon his feelings 
and pride, telling him that Zeni was no good, had no 
courage, but that he, Zancanelli, could do the job if 
he would. Thereupon Zancanelli undertook it. 
McGary and Carter told him that he would probably 
be arrested, but that the union was so strong and 
powerful that it would get him out of jail at once, and 
protect him from the consequences. They told him 
also that, if he succeeded, the union would take care 
of him the rest of his life, so that he would not have to 
work. They promised him f 1,000 ; that is to say, $500 
for each murder. The four of them — Carter, McGary, 
Zancanelli, and Zeni — went from union headquarters 
across the street to a saloon, and there McGary cashed 
a check for $50, receiving the money in gold, and paid 
$25 each to Zancanelli and Zeni upon account — two 
$10 gold pieces and a $5 piece to each. Zancanelli 
then had Belcher pointed out to him, and followed 
him around and lay in wait for him. On the evening 
of the second day thereafter his opportunity came, 
and he stole up behind his victim and shot him with 
a revolver that McGary had furnished him for the 
purpose. This revolver had certain peculiarities by 
which it was identified readily by its owner. It had 
belonged to one Barulich, a chauffeur employed by the 
union to drive its car. Barulich stated that he car- 
ried the gun in his automobile when driving McGary 
and Carter around from camp to camp, and that it 
had disappeared a short time before, and that he sup- 
posed either McGary or Carter had taken it. 



23 



Upon this confession of Zancanelli's, effort was 
immediately made to arrest McGary and Carter, and 
it was then discovered that they had fled the state the 
day after the murder. This same Barulich stated 
that he was directed by McGary and Carter to take 
them in the car to the first railroad station east of 
Trinidad ; that upon arrival there McGary and Carter 
had directed him to proceed further eastward, and 
that upon arriving at each town in their progress he 
received similar orders to drive further, until they 
reached Lamar, a town on the Santa Fe railroad near 
the Kansas border. Upon arrival at Lamar an east- 
bound train was just pulling in. This train was 
boarded by McGary and Carter, who directed Baru- 
lich to return to Trinidad. 

I personally offered a reward of $1,000 for the ar- 
rest and return of each of these two fugitives ; but, not- 
withstanding the reward and all my efforts to discover 
them, their whereabouts are still unknown to any of 
the authorities. 

Possibly there is no significance in the fact, but I 
have remarked that in the printed statement of the 
treasurer of the United Mine Workers, compiled at 
Indianapolis, in addition to the salary account paid 
McGary, there appears an item "A. B. McGary ex- 
pense, |50.00. v 

Zancanelli stated that he made this confession be- 
cause McGary and Carter had not kept their word 
with him in getting him out of jail, and he felt that 
they had deserted him, and that they should bear as 
much of the blame as he. He was told, before he made 
the confession, that it would be used against him, and 
that he was under no compulsion to make it. He told 



24 



his story circumstantially and minutely to a great 
many persons, but without feeling of remorse or re- 
gret. Zeni steadfastly denied all knowledge what- 
ever. Later the grand jury indicted Zancanelli, 
Zeni, McGary, and Carter. Zancanelli was turned 
over to the civil authorities and is now held for mur- 
der. Zeni was turned over before the grand jury had 
indicted him, and the civil authorities released him. 
He stayed around long enough to make a very ridic- 
ulous affidavit, manifestly prompted by the strike 
leaders, concerning alleged cruelties to the military 
prisoners in the city jail, and then departed for parts 
unknown — another instance of the many affidavit men 
who cannot be found after their affidavits have served 
their intended purpose. Zeni, like McGary and Car- 
ter, is now a fugitive from justice. 

ALEXANDER MURDER 

On November 23 I discovered James Bicavuris in 
a hospital in Denver. I arrested him and took him 
to Trinidad, where his case was submitted to the Mil- 
itary Commission. The occasion was as follows : 

During one of the battles between the strikers 
and mine guards in the Hastings and Benvind canons, 
one Alexander, a mine guard, was deliberately shot 
by the strikers. It seems that the mine guards at 
Hastings were not acquainted with the mine guards 
in the adjacent canon at Berwind, and so they adopted 
the device of tying a handkerchief around their arms 
as a distinguishing mark, whereby they might recog- 
nize each other. Early one morning, before the troops 
arrived in the field, a group of mine guards from Hast- 
ings, expecting an attack from the strikers at Ludlow, 



25 



were reconnoitering upon the hills adjacent to their 
camp. They were expecting to be reinforced by the 
mine guards from Berwind. In the dim light of 
breaking dawn the Hastings guards, of whom Alex- 
ander was one, encountered a tall man, with a heavy 
shock of red hair, with a handkerchief tied upon his 
arm. This man called to the party of guards, saying : 
"We are the Berwind guards; come on!" By this 
ruse he led the Hastings men up the side of a hill, and, 
as they approached the crest, concealed strikers rose 
from their cover a few feet away, and delivered a fusil- 
lade of shots, killing Alexander. The man who had 
been used as a decoy was seen to approach and rob the 
body of Alexander after the latter was killed. In the 
doing of it, hoAvever, he was accidentally shot in the 
leg by a stray bullet from his own people. The 
wounded decoy disappeared, and when I found Bicu- 
varis in Denver, just recovered from a gun-shot wound 
in the leg, and maintained in the hospital at the ex- 
pense of the United Mine Workers of America, I 
caused to be introduced into the hospital ward Alex- 
ander's companions, who instantly picked him out of 
twenty or thirty patients, and identified him positively 
as the man who led Alexander to his death. This tes- 
timony being submitted to the Military Commission, 
Bicuvaris was detained, and later delivered to the 
civil authorities, in whose custody he now is, awaiting 
trial for murder. It appeared from the testimony be- 
fore the Military Commission that the United Mine 
Workers had officially taken care of Bicuvaris, con- 
cealing him from the authorities, conducting him to 
Denver, and paying his hospital expenses during his 
recovery from his wound. Bicuvaris is a Greek, speak- 
ing English but imperfectly. 



26 

MILITARY COMMISSION 

About this time I instituted the Military Commis- 
sion, whose purpose, functions, and service I have ex- 
plained elsewhere in this report. 

STRIKEBREAKERS 

About December 1 Your Excellency modified 
your instructions concerning strikebreakers, and di- 
rected me to see that the law was strictly enforced; 
where workmen were desirous of entering the state to 
secure work in the mines, to give them necessary pro- 
tection, and see that they knew in advance the con- 
ditions of employment and that a strike existed. The 
first workmen arrived about the 17th of December. I 
was very careful to ascertain whether they knew the 
conditions of their employment and the pendency of 
the strike, and in those instances where I was not 
satisfied that the law had been complied with in that 
respect, the strikebreakers were held for investigation. 
In other cases they were given safe conduct and pro- 
tection to the camps where they had contracted to 
labor. 

VACCINATION OF LUDLOW TENT COLONY 

On the 29th of December I found it necessary to 
insist upon the vaccination of the inhabitants of the 
Ludlow tent colony. This task Avas accomplished by 
the medical corps of the National Guard, under the 
directions of the Surgeon-General of the state,' Colonel 
Lingenfelter. It was not performed Avithout much dis- 
sent and protest on the part of the strikers in the 



27 



colony, but the vaccination . was successful and a 
plague of smallpox, Avhieh had started, was success- 
fully stamped out. 

ROUTT COUNTY EXPEDITION 

On the 5th of January Your Excellency directed 
me to send a company of infantry to Routt County. 
Accordingly I sent Company G, First Infantry, Cap- 
tain Dora, commanding, together with the necessary 
staff and medical officers. The occasion for the occu- 
pation of Routt County was that the citizens at Oak 
Creek rose en masse and announced that the union 
leaders were a menace to society, and would have to 
leave the county within twenty-four hours, or the 
citizens, banded together for that purpose, would drive 
them out. The strikers themselves called upon Your 
Excellency for protection against the citizens of Routt 
County, and that protection was promptly afforded. 

MOTHER JONES 

On the 11th of January Mary Jones, or Mary 
Harris, alias "Mother Jones," appeared in Trinidad in 
defiance of Your Excellency, with the avowed and 
proclaimed purpose of stirring up trouble. I have 
discussed this woman elsewhere in this report. By 
Your Excellency's directions I arrested Mother Jones, 
placed her in San Rafael Hospital, a church institu- 
tion, giving her every comfort, but depriving her of 
being at large to carry out her incendiary purposes. 

MOTHER JONES RIOT 

Ten days later there occurred a riot in the streets 
of Trinidad, known as the "Mother Jones riot." By 



28 



this time the military forces had been able to enforce 
a snllen and unwilling peace in the disturbed region, 
and the strikers had evinced a disposition to cause dis- 
turbance and disorder through their Avomen folks. 
They adopted as a device the plan of hiding behind 
their women's skirts, believing, as was indeed the case, 
that it would be more embarrassing for the military 
to deal with women than with men. Accordingly a 
parade of women was arranged as a demonstration to 
protest against the incarceration of Mother Jones. 
The leaders in the movement consulted me, asking per- 
mission to carry out the parade, and promising that 
the line of march would be confined to the down-town 
streets of Trinidad, and particularly that no effort 
would be made to march upon the hospital where 
Mother Jones was detained, and which is adjacent to 
the military camp, about a mile from the center of 
the city. With that understanding, I freely gave per- 
mission for the parade to occur. The parade of women 
was had as planned, but it was noticeable that the 
men, while not in the parade, Avere present in the im- 
mediate vicinity and aA-ailable to participate in any 
riot that might occur. Contrary to the promise given 
me by the leaders, the hundreds of women in the 
parade, together Avith the hundreds of men upon the 
sidewalk, started toAvard the hospital and the military 
camp, Avith loud shouts of their intention to liberate 
Mother Jones by force. I found it necessary to break 
up the parade and clear the streets, which Avas done 
promptly and effectually. So soon as the disorder 
commenced, the men, quite evidently waiting for that 
to transpire, joined the croAvd and participated in the 
melee. The strike leader, Diamond, avIio Avas then 



29 



in charge of the union people of Trinidad, instead of 
using his efforts to dissuade his people from their un- 
lawful intentions, I discovered to be calmly taking 
photographs, for use doubtless of the union press 
bureau and the Congressional Committee. I was com- 
pelled to make numerous arrests upon that occasion 
of persons who were later released or turned over to 
the civil authorities. The fact that the parade itself 
consisted of women has been made the subject of much 
flamboyant and untruthful comment by the union 
leaders, but the situation was a dangerous one, and I 
have to congratulate and commend the National 
Guard for the patience with which the crisis was 
handled. It was truly a miracle that no blood was 
shed, and the miracle is due alone to the self-restraint 
and patience of the National Guardsmen under the 
most provoking and trying circumstances. Sticks, 
stones, and other missiles were freely thrown by men 
and women alike at the soldiers, but the latter disre- 
garded the blows they received, and bore themselves 
well and manfully, intent alone upon clearing the 
streets and dispersing the mob. 

WALSENBURG BOMB 

On the 27th of January a crude bomb was thrown 
into the military camp at Walsenburg. It did not 
explode. Whence it came was a mystery, and no 
arrests could be made on this account. The incident, 
however, shows to what lengths those opposed to the 
military will go, and what precautions must neces- 
sarily be taken by the state's troops in sheer self- 
preservation. Had the bomb exploded, it would have 
killed a great portion of the soldiers about the head- 
quarters of the camp. 



30 
HABEAS CORPUS 

On the 29th of January four habeas corpus cases 
were tried before the District Court of Las Animas 
County, involving the right of the military authorities 
to arrest and detain persons without accusations of 
specific offenses. After a lengthy argument between 
counsel for the United Mine Workers and the Judge 
Advocate, the district judge vindicated the right of 
the military to arrest and imprison, following in that 
respect the judicial determinations of the same ques- 
tion by every state court in which the situation has 
arisen, and by the Supreme Court of the United 
States. 

FREMONT COUNTY EXPEDITION 

On the 31st of January Your Excellency directed 
me to send troops into Fremont County, the occasion 
being an attack by armed strikers upon trains bearing 
strikebreakers to the mines. Pursuant to those direc- 
tions, I sent Major Kennedy with a company of in- 
fantry and a detachment of cavalry to Florence, 
diminishing by this and the expedition to Routt 
County the all too meager force at my command 
wherewith to protect the citizens of Huerfano and Las 
Animas Counties. 

By Your Excellency's orders, about the middle 
of February the troops were withdrawn, first from 
Fremont County and then from Routt County, the 
necessity for their presence, in Your Excellency's 
opinion, having passed. 



31 

MOTHER JONES' HABEAS CORPUS SUITS 

Early in February counsel for the United Mine 
Workers made application to the Supreme Court of 
the State of Colorado for an original writ of habeas 
corpus in the case of Mother Jones. This application 
was denied by the Supreme Court. 

On the 6th of March the habeas corpus petition 
in the case of Mother Jones, addressed to the District 
Court of Las Animas County, was denied, and Mother 
Jones remanded to my custody. During the argu- 
ments in court upon all of the habeas corpus cases, 
the court-room was packed on each occasion with a 
heterogeneous audience, the major portion of which 
neither spoke nor understood the English language. 
The crowd was very unusual and could not have been 
attracted by any desire to hear the proceedings, which 
it could not understand. Without any doubt in the 
world, these men — Greeks, Montenegrins, Italians, 
Servians, and other recent arrivals from the southern 
countries of Europe — were present for the one pur- 
pose of participating in any riot that might be started. 
On the last occasion, March 6, I discovered a con- 
spiracy among certain Italians in the audience to 
kill myself, the Judge Advocate, who was presenting 
the argument, and the district judge, who had incurred 
the hatred of the strikers by his decisions. The con- 
spiracy was not unusual, since I have had military in- 
formation of just such plots over and over again ; but, 
upon a showing of this particular conspiracy, the 
actual production of Mother Jones in court was 
waived by counsel for the United Mine Workers. On 
each of these occasions I found it necessary to sur- 
round the courthouse with soldiers. I have always 



32 

been able to enforce order and prevent riot or dis- 
perse mobs, bur with all the forces at my command I 
could not prevent secret assassination, and assassina- 
tion was impending that day. 

FORBES MURDER 

An episode has occurred since the visit of the 
Congressional Committee, which has been given 
nation-wide publicity through the press bureau of the 
United Mine Workers of America. The incident is so 
typical of the falsehoods spread broadcast concerning 
the National Guard by the union leaders that I beg 
leave to acquaint Your Excellency and, through you, 
the Congressional Committee with the facts. A non- 
union miner by the name of Neil Smith, working at 
Forbes, was murdered on the railroad tracks between 
Forbes and Suffield. The murder was particularly 
brutal. It Avas committed with large stones held in 
the hand, with which the victim was beaten to death. 
His skull was smashed in, and his whole body so 
pounded and mutilated as to be almost beyond recog- 
nition. The blood-deluged stones and clubs used are 
in the possession of the coroner of Las Animas Coun- 
ty. After being killed, the victim's body was laid on 
the railroad track to be run over, as it was, by an ap- 
proaching train. The train passed over the body at 
7 :40 in the evening. At six o'clock the deceased was 
seen walking briskly towards Suffield at a point not 
a quarter of a mile from where he was discovered 
dead. In an hour and forty minutes, if the union's 
theory is correct, he had walked less than a quarter 
of a mile. The stones and sticks covered with hair 
imbedded in the dried blood, found beside the rail- 



33 



road track, conclusively negative any theory other 
than murder. Three distinct sets of foot-prints led 
from the body, where it lay on the railroad track, 
across country by a devious route into the union tent 
colony at Forbes. The foot-prints were very dis- 
tinct and were not lost once. It was known that 
by an incident of this kind the union people desired to 
strike terror into the hearts of those at work. There 
were two tent colonies at Forbes, known as the upper 
and the lower colony. In one are men, women, and 
children. In the other are men only. It was to the 
latter colony that the foot-prints of the murderers 
led. 

All of the tent colonies in the disturbed region 
are so established strategically as to guard the mouth 
of the canon and by their presence terrorize and intim- 
idate non-union workmen. This was particularly true 
of the Forbes colony. It is so established that no 
workmen can leave the camp at Forbes without pass- 
ing along or through it. Upon discovering these facts, 
I arrested all of the inhabitants of this lower colony, 
numbering some sixteen men. I then directed the re- 
moval of the tents, and they were taken clown. In 
my judgment it was a military necessity. The col- 
ony was known to harbor the murderers of Smith, 
and was a menace and continuing intimidation. 

So soon as the tent colony was razed the strike 
leaders besieged Your Excellency with protests, and 
sent to the President of the United States a message 
to the effect that I had destroyed the homes of the 
people and turned women and children — nay, infants 
in arms — out into a blinding blizzard, homeless and 
Avith unspeakable suffering. There was no blizzard; 



34 



there were no women, children, or infants in the col- 
ony, and every inhabitant deprived of a home by the 
razing of the tents was furnished shelter in the jails 
of Trinidad. I have the statement of the president of 
the Forbes local union, made to the Judge Advocate, 
that there were no women or children in this colony, 
and never had been since its inception. Accordingly, 
by Your Excellency's direction, I telegraphed the true 
facts to the President of the United States, a copy of 
which message I attach hereto. In this case it is 
interesting to note that the president of the local 
union, in answer to a question of the Judge Advocate, 
stated that the Forbes local comprised some fifty- 
three members, mostly English-speaking, being Eng- 
lishmen, Scotchmen, Irishmen, and Welshmen, and 
that of the number there were but three American 
citizens. The examination of the prisoners revealed 
over and over again English-speaking men who had 
been in this country between twenty and thirty years, 
yet had never attempted to become American citizens, 
but remained still subjects of the British crown. 
These are the class of men who clamor most loudly 
about their constitutional rights. 

WILLIAMS' ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION 

As I write this report, another instance of out- 
lawry has occurred. The other night the business men 
of Trinidad met and formulated a joint telegram to 
Your Excellency, endorsing Your Excellency's policy, 
and pleading for the protection that continuance of 
the state troops in Trinidad assures. One of the 
business men so joining in approval of Your Excel- 
lency and the military forces of the state was dis- 



35 



covered the day before yesterday in a dying condition 
in his office, having been murderously beaten and left 
for dead. He was taken to San Rafael Hospital, and, 
from the latest reports received, has not yet recovered 
consciousness. 



Ill 

GENERAL POLICIES 

USE OF HORSES, MULES, AND AUTOMOBILES 

On entering the field, the National Guard owned 
only fourteen head of draft-horses — a totally inade- 
quate number for the Quartermaster General's De- 
partment, which is charged with the supplying of the 
troops with all manner of stores. Two hundred and 
seventy-nine head of horses were finally purchased 
for draft use and mounted troops. The Commanding 
General very gladly accepted the offer made by ranch- 
men and some of the operators to take over horses 
and mules to be used without charge to the state. In 
this way twenty-one head of saddle horses were in use 
without expense other than their feed, being drawn 
from the ranches in the vicinity of the strike zone, and 
fifteen head of mules were secured from the various 
coal mines of the district. 

In Huerfano and Las Animas Counties the troops 
were distributed over about 120 miles of territory, 
much of which was distant from railroad transporta- 
tion. It became necessary to provide transportation 
other than horses, in order that the Commanding 
General and certain officers of his staff might pay 
frequent visits to the detached posts. At various times 
six different automobiles have been used, four of which 
were private cars and two said to have been owned 
by the operators. Some complaint was urged by the 
strike leaders against the use of these cars, and request 
was promptly made of Mr. Lawson that he also fur- 
nish one or two cars for the use of the troops. This 
request he declined. 



37 

ENLISTMENT OF MINE GUARDS 

The enlisted personnel of the National Guard of 
Colorado is largely made up of small property-owners, 
clerks, professional men, and farmers. It has always 
been the custom, upon mobilization of the troops for 
protracted service, to relieve from duty those soldiers 
wnose presence at home is most greatly needed, en- 
listing in their places men who have served in the 
regular army, in the marine corps and navy, and the 
National Guard of this and other states, great num- 
bers of whom are usually available in the cities and 
towns of the state. Among the mine guards who were 
thrown out of employment by the presence of the 
troops in the field, a few ex-soldiers were found whose 
discharge papers were of such a character that it 
seemed desirable to enlist them in the National Guard 
of Colorado. So far as it has been possible to ascer- 
tain, no Baldwin-Felts man ever offered himself for 
enlistment or became enrolled in the service. All men 
enlisted in the National Guard were given the pay of 
the rank in which they were serving as soldiers, and 
were subject to the same orders as other soldiers. A 
few of the men enlisted among the mine guards were 
paid for a time additional sums by the operators. This 
is a matter in which the Commanding General has 
no interest, as it ^as been customary for business 
houses to continue the pay of employes who are serv- 
ing the state under orders of the Governor. 

DISARMAMENT 

The Governor in his first letter of instruction 
directed that all persons should be disarmed unless 



38 



authorized to bear arms. In compliance with this 
order, weapons were taken from the peace officers of 
both counties, from the deputy sheriffs and mine 
guards found about the properties of the operators, 
from the tent colonies of the strikers, and from such 
homes and stores as were being used to the disturb- 
ance of law and order. In all 1,872 guns and pistols 
have been gathered, about an equal number being- 
taken from the deputies and strikers, and about two 
tons of explosives. Directions were given, very soon 
after entering the strike zone, that the importation of 
arms and ammunition should cease, and that no guns, 
ammunition, or explosives should be sold without the 
permission of the Commanding General. Many of the 
guns which were in transit at the time of the mobiliza- 
tion of troops were returned to the factories and 
wholesale dealers in the East. Where arms were vol- 
untarily turned over to the soldiers, a receipt carrying 
a description of the gun was given to the owner of the 
weapon. Where false statements have been made as 
to the presence of guns, it has been customary to con- 
fiscate the weapons when found. The first weapons 
gathered in Huerfano County were taken from the 
sheriff and his deputies. 

STRIKEBREAKERS AND STRIKE NOTICES 

In the Governor's letter of instruction dated Oc- 
tober 28, 1913, occurred the following order : 

"To see that all persons desiring to return to 
work shall be permitted to do so and to go and 
come when they will without molestation or inter- 
ference of any kind whatsoever; and during the 



39 



restoration of order or until further orders no 
strikebreakers shall be shipped in. 

With these purposes in view you should have 
the fullest co-operation of every good citizen." 

Every operator in the strike zone was promptly 
notified of this ruling, and was directed that any plans 
under consideration for the introduction of workmen 
from outside the State of Colorado should be with- 
drawn until such time as the Governor lifted the pro- 
hibition for the introduction of workmen from with- 
out the state. One band of twelve Japanese was per- 
mitted to come in by a special permit of the Governor, 
as they had previously worked in the strike zone and 
were fully cognizant of the fact that the strike was in 
progress. The Governor directed by telephone that 
at any time when two or three former workmen de- 
sired to return to any of the mines, they should be 
allowed to do it. The strike leaders repeatedly called 
the attention of the Commanding General to alleged 
efforts to violate the order concerning the introduc- 
tion of workmen. Each case was investigated by an 
officer detailed for the purpose, and in only one in- 
stance — that of the introduction of Mexicans at Gray 
Creek — was there even an appearance of an effort to 
evade the order of the Governor. 

Prior to the issuance of General Order No. 17, 
a copy of which is attached, the operators were 
informed that they would not be permitted to im- 
port to their mines any workman who had not pre- 
viously been interrogated by an officer of the National 
Guard as to his knowledge of the strike and conditions 
of employment in the State of Colorado. Each officer 



40 



of the National Guard was furnished with copies of 
General Order No. 17, and the order was printed 
in the local press. The first importation of work- 
men arrived from the East, passing through La 
Junta. In order to test the efficacy of the method 
adopted for interviewing workmen, Captain Nicker- 
son was sent to La Junta to meet the train bearing the 
workmen. Upon his recommendation that there was 
ample time after the arrival of workmen in the district 
to test their knowledge of the strike and labor condi- 
tions in Colorado, no other officer was sent out of the 
strike zone to intercept workmen. Upon several 
occasions complaints were made that workmen had 
been brought into the mines without a complete check 
being made. Officers were detailed to investigate, and 
their reports show that in each instance the check had 
been thoroughly made. 

Prior to the promulgation of General Order No. 
IT, the operators were invited to a conference with 
the Commanding General to devise a scheme of 
notification to the workmen entering the strike zone, 
which would give evidence of compliance with the law. 
At this time notices were drafted, and printed in 
several languages, which were afterwards, as I am 
informed, supplied to each laborer imported. One of 
these printed notices is attached hereto. 

UNITED STATES MAILS 

Nearly every mining camp in southern Colorado 
is located on land which for purposes other than 
mining is almost worthless. Such population as 
gathers about the mines is for purely mining pur- 
poses. This has necessitated the placing of post- 



41 



offices, for the convenience of the inhabitants, on 
mining property privately owned. One of the deli- 
cate situations requiring wise control on the part of 
the soldiers on duty in the strike region has been to 
permit all persons who were accustomed to receive 
mail at these mining post-offices to proceed to the post- 
office, and at the same time insure against interfer- 
ence with persons or property connected with the 
other side of the industrial conflict. The condition 
referred to has been aggravated in several of the 
camps by the fact that county roads pass through 
the mining camp, and, as Your Excellency well knows, 
no highways in the strike zone are fenced. As an in- 
stance of the conditions referred to, of the care exer- 
cised by the officers and the good judgment exhibited 
by the enlisted men, the reports of the officers con- 
nected with the alleged interference of the mail at 
Kouse are herewith submitted. 

ALLEGED PEONAGE 

Numerous inquiries have been made of the Com- 
manding General by the committee of the trades as- 
semblies of Colorado, by strike leaders and individ- 
uals among the strikers, as to the restraint alleged to 
have been exercised by soldiers over workmen desir- 
ing to leave the various mining properties. It seems 
incredible that such a charge should be made against 
a soldier; for it is a well-known fact that the mine 
operators openly assert they want no man on the 
pay-roll who has become dissatisfied with his work, 
or who desires to leave. Therefore it is easy to un- 
derstand that no request has ever been received by any 
officer or soldier of the National Guard of Colorado to 



42 



prevent the departure of any workmen seeking to 
leave, nor has there been an instance known to the 
Commanding General where an officer or enlisted man 
of the National Guard ever prevented the exit of any 
workman from a mine, unless all egress from a camp 
had been barred temporarily to investigate some al- 
leged crime. 

POLICE INFRACTIONS BY TROOPS 

Something over 2,000 different soldiers have been 
on duty in the strike zone of Colorado. The dis- 
cipline of the men, the efficiency of the officers, and 
the quality of service rendered have been a constant 
surprise to such soldiers as have had the facts to 
judge from. No instance of disobedience or neglect 
of orders on the part of an officer has come to the at- 
tention of the Commanding General. There have been 
fewer infractions than might have been expected from 
the nature of the service, which was peculiarly trying 
to disciplined soldiers. Every case of drunkenness or 
other irregularity was cared for by the proper mil- 
itary courts. The summary courts tried 424 cases, 
and the general court martial considered 30 cases. 

THE MILITARY COMMISSION 

I feel it due to explain the purpose and functions 
of the Military Commission which was established by 
my order shortly after the assassination in the streets 
of Trinidad. I found that military prisoners were ac- 
cumulating in the jails, whose individual cases needed 
more thorough investigation than the Commanding 
General had time or occasion to make. I therefore 



43 



detached a board of officers, which I designated the 
"Military Commission." This board or commission 
I constituted of officers of higher rank in the service 
of the state, known in their local communities as rep- 
resentative men of high ability, upright character, 
and irreproachable integrit}^ While the personnel of 
the commission was changed slightly from time to 
time, as the necessities of the service required, still I 
aimed always to assign to this body officers in whom 
Your Excellency, the Commanding General, and the 
people would have the geratest confidence. As orig- 
inally established, the commission comprised the In- 
spector-General and Paymaster-General of the State, 
Colonel C. B. Carlile, who, in civil life, is a banker in 
Pueblo ; the Surgeon-General of the State, Colonel G. 
P. Lingenfelter, a distinguished Denver physician; 
Colonel Edward Verdeckberg, commanding the First 
Regiment of Infantry and the central camp at Wal- 
senburg, a manufacturer of Denver; Major A. H. Wil- 
liams, Adjutant-General of the First Brigade, a Den- 
ver business man; Major A. F. Reeves, a real-estate 
man of Montrose, who has since been appointed post- 
master of that city by the President; Captain A. D. 
Marshall, the secretary of the Sons of the American 
Revolution; and Lieutenant W. A. Spangler, a Den- 
ver attorney. Afterwards, at different times, Major 
Lester, a Walsenburg physician ; Captain Dailey, clerk 
of the District Court at Fort Morgan ; Captain Frost, 
an attorney of Colorado Springs ; Captain F. D. Bart- 
lett, a professional man of Denver, and Captain 
Downer, a merchant of Ordway, served upon the com- 
mission. 



44 



The purpose in view in establishing the Mili- 
tary Commission was to prevent the imposition of 
unnecessary hardship and imprisonment in eases 
where no reasonable grounds existed for detention, 
and to insure, by the collective judgment of such 
a board, wise and discriminating imprisonment of 
those who should be detained as a military necessity. 
While the board was advisory purely, I yet sought to 
substitute for the sole judgment of the Commanding 
General the collective wisdom and painstaking results 
of these high-minded and patriotic gentlemen. The 
Military Commission was in no sense a court. It did 
not undertake to try anyone for criminal offenses or 
anything else. It was a kindly and humane device 
established for the sole purpose of minimizing the 
possibility of error in judgment attaching to the in- 
carceration of civilians. 

In the same order I established the office of the 
Judge Advocate of the Military District, and desig- 
nated Major Edward J. Boughton, an attorney of 
Denver and Cripple Creek, the Judge Advocate; as- 
signing to his office as assistants Captain William C. 
Danks, of Denver; Captain Edward A. Smith, of 
Denver; Captain Hildreth Frost, of Colorado Springs, 
and Captain J. R. Charlesworth, of Delta; all prac- 
ticing attorneys-at-law. 

The purpose of the Military Commission and the 
Judge Advocate's office was accomplished even beyond 
my expectations. A very large number of arrests were 
made for various reasons. All of these cases were in- 
vestigated, the evidence collected and submitted to 
the Military Commission by the Judge Advocate, and 
recommendations either of release or continued deten- 



45 



tion were made by the commission to the Commanding 
General, and acted upon promptly by him. In all 172 
cases were thus investigated and disposed of. It is 
interesting to note that 325 witnesses appeared before 
the commission. Of the prisoners, 141 were foreign- 
ers, 14 were Greeks, 46 Italians, 43 Mexicans, 
24 Slavs, 14 other foreign nations. There were 31 
Americans. The moral effect of the Military Com- 
mission was tremendous. It was able to ascertain the 
true facts in cases where the civil authorities had con- 
fessed themselves wholly unable to do anything. 
Whenever it was discovered that the prisoners were 
amenable to the civil law for specific criminal offenses, 
they were turned over to the civil authorities, to- 
gether with the evidence collected by the commission. 
The nature of the cases submitted may be summarized 
as follows: murder, 29; assault, 42; disturbance, 20; 
rioting, 19; subverting military discipline, 17; arson, 
20; drunkenness and disorderly conduct, 15; held as 
witnesses, 21; insanity, 1; picketing, 1; fugitive from 
justice, 1. No effort was, of course, made in that di- 
rection, but it so happened that the political com- 
plexion both of the Military Commission and the 
Judge Advocate's office was distributed very evenly 
among the recognized political parties in the state, 
even the socialist party being represented thereon. 

"MOTHER JONES" 

The person known as "Mother Jones" has oc- 
casioned considerable publicity and some embarrass- 
ment during the occupation. The embarrassment of 
her presence is not, however, confined to the military 
authorities by any means. It was at one time stated 



46 



to me and the Judge Advocate, by Mr. McLennan, 
one of the principal strike leaders, that Mother Jones 
was invaluable as an organizer in the early stages of 
the strike, because she excited the men, but had al- 
ways proved very embarrassing to the union chiefs 
in the latter stages, particularly when there was 
possibility of a compromise or adjustment. McLen- 
nan stated in that conversation that Mother Jones 
was a very headstrong old woman, who would not sub- 
mit to guidance or suggestion of any kind, even from 
her own people, and that they had to suffer her to do 
as she wanted, oftentimes to the great annoyance of 
those in charge of the strike. She is an eccentric and 
peculiar figure. I make no mention of her personal 
history, with which we are not concerned. She seems, 
however, to have in an exceptional degree the faculty 
of strirring up and inciting the more ignorant and 
criminally disposed to deeds of violence and crime. 
Prior to the advent of the state's troops she made a 
series of speeches in the strike zone, of which I have 
authentic and verbatim reports. These speeches are 
couched in course, vulgar, and profane language, and 
address themselves to the lowest passions of mankind. 
I confidently believe that most of the murders and 
other acts of violent crime committed in the strike 
region have been inspired by this woman's incendiary 
utterances. The fact that she is a woman and ad- 
vanced in years she uses as a shield, as well as a 
means of invoking popular sympathetic sentiment in 
case of her incarceration. She is undoubtedly a most 
dangerous factor in the peace problem. I am informed 
that she was so found in West Virginia and elsewhere 
that disturbance and anarchv held swav. She was 



47 



held for murder in West Virginia, and I am advised 
that her police record is in the possession of the Pink- 
erton Detective Agency. 

As Your Excellency is fully aware, she defied all 
government and all authority of the Governor to Your 
Excellency. Every effort was made to induce her to 
remain away from the troubled district, and the co- 
operation in that respect of the strike leaders was 
invited. These latter, however, while evincing a dis- 
position to keep Mother Jones out of the territory, 
frankly confessed their inability to do so. She came 
to Trinidad, after publicly declaring her intention to 
incite trouble. 

In view of her history in other places and the 
evident effects of her incendiary utterances in Colo- 
rado, Your Excellency deemed it wise and even neces- 
sary, as a military measure, to restrain Mother Jones 
of her liberty so long as she persisted in remaining in 
the strike region. Accordingly, upon the day of her 
arrival in Trinidad I arrested her and placed her in 
San Rafael Hospital, upon the outskirts of the city, 
where she was given every attention conducive to her 
comfort. She was advised that she was always at 
entire liberty to leave the disturbed parts of the state, 
but she pertinaciously and with great contumacy in- 
sisted on remaining in imprisonment. It was avowed- 
ly present in her mind to excite sympathy for the 
union cause by submitting to a continued incarcera- 
tion, and with that in mind she was at first very 
angry that she had been so nicely restrained at the 
hospital, instead of being confined in a common jail, of 
which she felt she would be able to make more capital. 
After many weeks' confinement, however, she sought a 



48 



confidential interview with Colonel Davis, commanding 
the central camp at Trinidad, in which she discussed 
ways and means of bringing about her departure and 
at the same time saving her face. Being anxious 
only to get rid of the incendiary woman, her sugges- 
tion that she be permitted to go to Denver, ostensibly 
to see Your Excellency, and that, if liberated at that 
place, she would depart upon some excuse of her own, 
was readily adopted. Upon her own suggestion, she 
was brought to Denver and liberated as suggested, 
but she promptly repudiated the rest of her proposal, 
and, after interviewing her attorney and strike leaders, 
and remaining in Denver for three of four days, she 
returned to the strike district, where again, by Your 
Excellency's directions, I have had the unpleasant 
duty of detaining her. She was again notified that 
she was free to leave the district at any time she 
wished. She returned to the strike district, not for 
the transaction of any business, or for any other pur- 
pose than to defy the power of the state, and, as she 
stated in numerous interviews, "to establish her con- 
stitutional right to go where she pleased," and in 
open defiance of the power and authority vested in 
the chief executive. 



IV 

SOME SPECIFIC INCIDENTS 

I come now to report upon specific incidents 
testified to before the Congressional Committee. In 
this connection it should be remarked that consid- 
erable testimony was presented of complaints against 
the conduct of officers or soldiers of the National 
Guard. In a great many of these instances the wit- 
ness could not, or at any rate did not, state facts 
from which either the identity of the men complained 
of or the incident referred to could be established. 
Such testimony has been painfully illusive, since it 
has afforded no means of checking the witness by 
investigation, and affords no opportunity to combat 
or refute the testimony. Another large class of testi- 
mony produced before the Committee and attacking 
the National Guard does not appear to fall relevantly 
within any of the enumerated lines of inquiry author- 
ized b,y the House resolution. Again, much was 
stated to the Committee concerning minor police in- 
fractions by individual soldiers whose offenses were 
properly disciplined in the usual way, wherever 
known. In this connection it was very easily dis- 
cernible that a disposition existed in the witnesses 
hostile to the National Guard, and in those indi- 
viduals conducting the attack upon the Guard, to 
keep secret from the proper military officers any mis- 
conduct on the part of soldiers, thus often preventing 
the disciplining of the offender or proper investiga- 
tion of the charge at a time when the true facts were 
ascertainable. It seemed to be a settled purpose to 
treasure up known charges of alleged misconduct 



50 



against soldiers to be used as testimony before the 
Committee, great care being taken, wherever possible, 
not to acquaint the military authorities with the 
grounds of complaint against individual soldiers, so as 
to afford means of correction. With the large number 
of soldiers in the field, and scattered among some 
thirty-six detached posts over a territory one hun- 
dred and twenty miles in extent, there have doubtless 
occurred instances of misconduct and disorder on 
the part of individual soldiers. It would, indeed, be 
very strange if such was not the case. But I can 
confidently assert that no very serious offenses have 
been committed, and that in every instance where 
infraction of the law or the moral misconduct of men 
has occurred, and where the military authorities had 
knowledge, or could by the exercise of the utmost 
diligence have obtained knowledge, the offenders have 
been promptly and severely disciplined and punished. 
Considering the size of the force, the necessity of 
such discipline and the occasions of such misconduct 
have been remarkably few; and, indeed, I have to 
commend the patience and good conduct of the men 
in the field as truly exceptional under a great strain, 
and often under almost unbearable provocation. 

So far, then, as I have been able to ascertain 
from the testimony produced before the Committee 
what incidents and what men were referred to by the 
hostile witnesses, I have thoroughly and personally 
investigated the cases cited and am able to report the 
true facts of each. 



EXCLUSION OF LABOR COMMISSIONERS 

It was testified by the witness Eli Gross that he 
and certain other representatives of Labor Commis- 
sioner Brake were sent to Delagua, Hastings, Tobasco, 
Berwind, and Forbes to discharge certain official 
duties, and that at the latter place they were pro- 
hibited from seeing the men in the mines, and es- 
corted out of camp and excluded therefrom, by Lieu- 
tenant Olinger of the National Guard. The facts are 
that Mr. Gross and his party were ostensibly visiting 
the properties for the purpose of examining the plant 
and machinery, as provided by the state inspection 
law. This they were permitted to do, as testified by 
Mr. Gross himself; but in the party at Delagua and 
Hastings was a certain Italian by the name of 
Mancini, likewise a deputy labor commissioner, who 
stated to Major Hamrock, in command of that dis- 
trict, that by express directions of Labor Commis- 
sioner Brake he accompanied the party for the pur- 
pose of talking to the employed and working non- 
union miners in Italian, and that he had had express 
directions from his chief to persuade the workmen 
to quit work by every means either of argument, 
cajolery, or intimidation. Colorado has a state law 
prohibiting such interference with workmen, making 
it criminal. To have permitted the State Labor Com- 
missioner to violate the law through his Italian dep- 
uty would have increased the difficulty of maintain- 
ing peace. Upon this information being furnished by 
Major Hamrock, and observing that the Labor Com- 
missioner's party desired, not to inspect the machin- 
ery, but to talk to and dissuade the workmen from 
their employment, as a peace measure, Lieutenant 



52 



Olinger was directed to exclude them from the camp. 
These orders were carried out by the lieutenant cour- 
teously and after entertaining the party at dinner as 
his guests. 

THE LA JUNTA INCIDENT 

It was testified by some witness that, coming 
into the state as a strikebreaker with a number of 
others, the train was boarded by guardsmen at La 
Junta, the soldiers guarding the front and rear plat- 
forms of the car and preventing any person from 
leaving it. The witness stated that a woman and 
child desired to go from one car to another, and were 
forcibly detained upon the platform for a long time, 
exposed to the cold. This incident simply did not 
occur. The only National Guardsman ever sent out 
of the district to meet an incoming train of strike- 
breakers was Captain Mckerson, who testified at the 
Committee's request that upon one occasion he went 
alone to La Junta under instructions to ascertain 
whether the state law requiring knowledge of the 
strike conditions to be imparted to strikebreakers 
had been complied with, and that he went through 
the car and ascertained that in each instance the law 
had been obeyed, and interfered with nobody. 

THE VALENTI TESTIMONY 

A witness calling himself Salvatore Valenti tes- 
tified that he was compelled by soldiers to remain at 
work in Delagua after he wished to quit ; that, being 
refused permission to leave, he managed to escape by 
another way, and, being in Trinidad on the day of 
the Mother Jones riot, heard General Chase say: 



53 



"Go ahead and fight ; kill all you want; kill all the 
people right away; chase the people out of the road; 
go ahead and chase these people out and kill them; 
kill all the people you want." The latter part of 
this testimony ought not to be dignified by a denial, 
and, indeed, I should not have included so ridiculous 
a statement, were it not for the fact that it affords 
quite a typical instance of much of the testimony 
that was offered against the soldiers. This witness, 
Valenti, during his examination stated that his name 
was Dominick Bonito; that, in giving the name 
Salvatore Valenti at first, he had forgotten for a 
moment what his own name was and so gave his 
uncle's name. He stated that he had served a full 
three-years' enlistment in the United States army, 
being discharged on the 18th of February, 1912, and 
that he had served in the Philippines in 1910. He 
could not read or write, nor did he know the differ- 
ence between a colonel, a captain, and a sergeant. 
He stated that he belonged to Troop B of the Thirty- 
sixth Cavalry, and that his colonel was Tom Shaeffer, 
a German. As a matter of fact, no man who cannot 
read or write has been admitted to the United States 
army in the last twenty-five years. There is no 
Thirty-sixth Kegiment of Cavalry, and has not been. 
The name of Tom Shaeffer does not appear on the 
Army Eegister, either as colonel or anything else. 
The witness insisted he had his discharge papers in 
a trunk at Delagua. Upon the suggestion of the 
Committee, it was arranged that the strike leaders 
should bring this witness to the evening train, and 
that the General, who happened to be returning to 
the district that night, should personally give him 



54 



safe conduct to Delagua to find his trunk and his 
discharge papers. The General and the strike leaders 
were at the train, as agreed upon; but there was no 
Valenti. He has fled, and the strike leaders profess 
to the General that they do not know his whereabouts. 
He has no trunk and no discharge papers at Delagua, 
and the tale that he tells of enforced work and per- 
sonal restraint by the soldiers is not true. Yet this 
is the class of witness that was often introduced to 
the Committee as worthy of credit and belief, to 
attack the National Guard. 

THE BARBED-WIRE EPISODE 

It was stated by the witness John Lawson and 
others that Lieutenant Linderfelt had directed that 
some barbed wire be cut in small pieces and thrown 
into a well used by the inhabitants of the Ludlow 
tent colony as a source of water supply, thus polluting 
the well. The self-constituted Committee of Labor 
Organizations was at the time of this incident con- 
ducting what it was pleased to call an investigation 
of the militia. That committee had announced that 
it would make no report until it had completed its so- 
called investigation; but so appalling did this inci- 
dent appear to it that the committee interrupted its 
work at once and telegraphed to Your Excellency 
about the matter, as of serious and immediate im- 
port. 

The telegram stated that upon the occasion of 
the occurrence Lieutenant Linderfelt had brutally as- 
saulted an inoffensive boy, and grossly abused a man 
in no way connected with the strike, and unjustifiably 



55 



arrested Louie Tikas, the head man of the Ludlow 
tent colony; adding that the lieutenant had a delib- 
erate purpose to provoke the strikers to bloodshed, 
and asking for his removal. By Your Excellency's 
directions, I instigated a searching investigation of 
this incident at the time of its occurrence, and learned, 
as I advised Your Excellency, that the facts were as 
follows : On the evening of December 30 a patrol of 
Lieutenant Linderfelt's company was returning from 
Barnes, and, when opposite the Ludlow tent colony 
in the county road, Corporal Cuthbertson's horse en- 
countered a double strand of barbed wire which had 
been strung across the highway. The horse became 
entangled in the wire and unmanageable, and severely 
injured his rider, the horse itself being severely cut 
by the barbs. Again, on the 7th day of January an- 
other Avire entanglement was discovered in almost the 
same place, and removed. Upon one occasion, prior to 
the injury of Corporal Cuthbertson, another wire en- 
tanglement was discovered across the county road 
near the tent colony. After the injury to Cuthbert- 
son, Lieutenant Linderfelt directed his men to cut 
the wire into pieces, which they did, throwing it into a 
near-by well which was supposed to be abandoned, 
and I now find this well was at no time used by the 
strikers for water for drinking purposes. Lieutenant 
Linderfelt then arrested Louie Tikas, together with 
another man who was pointed out to him as the person 
who had strung the wire. At first Tikas protested 
that he did not know the other man, but, upon being 
sent to Major Kennedy for examination, admitted that 
he had lied in that respect and that he knew him very 
well, but protested innocence of the wire entangle- 



56 



ment. The inoffensive boy referred to in the labor 
committee's report denied that Lieutenant Linderfelt 
had struck him, confirming the lieutenant's statement 
in that respect. This incident is reported in full as 
showing the lengths of falsehood, bias, and deliberate 
misconstruction to which those engaged in attacking 
the National Guard have gone. 

INTERRUPTED FUNERAL 

Witness Hall, an undertaker of Trinidad whom 
the strikers employ exclusively, stated that a funeral 
procession conducted by him had been interfered with 
and broken up by a soldier driving an automobile. 
In this connection it should be explained that mobs 
and street processions have been prohibited in the 
strike zone for the very obvious reason that such 
demonstrations at a time like the present usually re- 
sult in disorder and riot. Funeral processions have, 
however, always been allowed and never interfered 
with. The result is that the striking miners utilize a 
funeral for the purpose of making a parade through 
the streets. On such occasions there is very little 
funeral sentiment, but often considerable sociological 
demonstration. It matters not that the deceased was 
wholly unknown to those taking part in the proces- 
sion, or whether the deceased had lived in the com- 
munity one day or ten years, the funeral is alwa}^s 
made the occasion of a street parade, in which flags 
and banners of the striking miners are carried and 
large numbers of men march to demonstrate strength. 
I feel this explanation is necessary to an understand- 
ing of what occurred in the incident referred to by 



57 



Undertaker Hall. Private Ward J. Watson was driv- 
ing an automobile, upon a military errand, betAveen the 
city of Trinidad and the military camp a mile away, 
and overtook one of these funeral processions or pa- 
rades. Reaching the rear of the procession a short way 
from the military camp, and attempting to pass by 
without molesting it, he slowed up to turn aside. The 
men in the procession turned about and began to abuse 
him, calling vile names, making threatening gestures, 
and climbing upon and over the sides of the automo- 
bile. Thereupon Private Watson, guiding his car with 
one hand, drew his pistol, and struck at one of the 
men attempting to board the car. In fear of what 
might follow, he being one against so many, he drove 
the car at full speed through the mass of men, until 
he reached the buggies and cabs in the procession, 
when he swung to the side and went on to the military 
camp. Private W^atson insists that he felt it neces- 
sary to act thus as the only means of protecting him- 
self against the demonstration made. It was really a 
flight. 

THE PATTRUCCI INCIDENT 

A woman by the name of Pattrucci testified that 
soldiers arrested her husband, taking him to the 
guard tent at Ludlow, and then returned and offered 
her $2 to prostitute herself. The offer, she stated, was 
made in the rather ambiguous language : "Where can 
I spend these $2?" The witness placed her own inter- 
pretation upon it. I have no means of ascertaining 
whether such incident ever occurred, since the witness, 
though pressed, was unable to give any information 
as to who the men were. She said, however, that she 



58 



complained of the incident to Major Kennedy, whom 
she knew, and that he had punished the men ; and, in 
an effort to discover who the men were, the Committee 
itself requested the presence of Major Kennedy, from 
whom it was hoped to obtain the names. Major Ken- 
nedy at the time was in command of the force in Fre- 
mont County, but upon the Committee's request was 
brought all the way from Florence to Trinidad, and, 
being upon the stand, testified that he knew nothing 
of the incident; that none had been reported to him, 
nor was anyone punished ; and that on the date of the 
alleged incident and conversation with him at Lud- 
low he was, in fact, over one hundred miles away. 

MRS. THOMAS 

Two incidents were testified to before the Com- 
mittee in connection with the Mother Jones riot — 
one by Mrs. Thomas, and the other by a young girl, 
Sarah Slator. Mrs. Thomas testified that she was 
shoved, pushed, jabbed in the back with a bayonet, 
arrested, and held in jail eleven days. The arrest 
and imprisonment are facts, but the rest of her tes- 
timony is largely fiction. She was a vociferous, bel- 
ligerent, and abusive leader of the mob. She forcibly 
resisted orders to move on, responding only with 
highly abusive and, to say the least, unwomanly lan- 
guage. She attacked the troops with fists, feet, and 
umbrella. In her testimony she made much of the 
awfulness of treating a riotous woman in the same 
way as a riotous man. This woman has been under 
surveillance for a long time, and the truth is that not 
long before, upon the occasion of the arrest of her 
husband for knocking down a woman — an arrest 



59 



directed by the union leader, Ulilieh — this same Mrs. 
Thomas strenuously defended her spouse at Miners' 
Union Hall, with the argument that women avIio act 
the part of men must be treated as such. The next 
day she appeared at the newspaper office of the Trini- 
dad Advertiser and professed her intention to kill the 
editor for having printed as a news item the incident 
concerning her husband, and returned a little later 
with a pistol to carry out her purpose; but, being 
excluded from the office, she remained for some time 
upon the sidewalk, attracting a crowd by her loud, 
vile, and boisterous denunciations. She is altogether 
a violent and, upon occasions like the Mother Jones 
riot, a dangerous woman. She claims to have lived 
in America a little less than a year. It was necessary 
to arrest her. 

SARAH SLATOR 

This young girl testified that on the same occa- 
sion the Commanding General dismounted for the pur- 
pose of kicking her in the breast. The absurdity of this 
statement will be apparent to all. The young girl, 
who was playing truant from school on that day, 
offered considerable resistance to the soldiers, posi- 
tively refusing to move on or go home, and continually 
calling names and abetting the troubles occurring 
within her sight. Before night her father represented 
to me her age and irresponsibility, and, feeling that 
a jail was no place for a girl of tender years, she was 
released and delivered to her father's custody. 



60 

OVERWORKED TRAIN CREW 

A Colorado & Southern brakeman testified that 
on December 25, 1913, Lieutenant Griffin compelled a 
train crew to work over the sixteen hours out of 
twenty-four limited by federal statute. The report 
of Lieutenant Griffin, who had charge of the detach- 
ment upon an errand of safe conduct of workmen, as 
well as the statement of Sergeant Goodell, who was 
with him at the time, show that the facts were these : 
A conversation occurred between the military officers 
and the train crew concerning the attitude of the 
National Guard toward the railroad trainmen and 
unions, and in this conversation members of the crew 
stated that all trainmen "had it in" for the military, 
as the military was always against the interests of the 
unions. It was noticed that a great delay in moving 
the train was occurring, and upon inquiry it was 
stated that the crew was "stalling," so that the sixteen- 
hour period would expire, leaving the military detach- 
ment in the yards. Whereupon the lieutenant told 
the conductor that he was placed in charge of the 
train to deliver workmen and return with his com- 
mand to Trinidad, and that the lieutenant's orders 
were to see that he did it ; at this the train was moved. 
If the sixteen-hour limit expired before the time the 
train reached Trinidad — a matter of which the lieu- 
tenant was in ignorance — it was because of the delib- 
erate plot on the part of the train crew to bring that 
condition about. 

PEONAGE 

There was some evidence introduced to the effect 
that men were forcibly prevented from quitting work 



61 



and leaving the camps at Hastings and Delagua, and 
that this sort of peonage was enforced by the soldiers 
in charge. After a careful examination, I state 
that this testimony was in every instance false, so 
far, at least, as the same concerns the troops. The 
commanding officer in charge of the troops in the 
Hastings-Delagua canon states positively that all civil- 
ians who made application to leave the camps were 
at once given a pass, and that at no time was the mili- 
tary instrumental in detaining anyone desiring to 
quit work and leave the camp. That a man was killed 
in the mine in Delagua during December while trying 
to leave, and that the soldiers were present and partici- 
pated, as mentioned in certain affidavits, and that the 
name of the man killed was Hayes, and that a man 
by the name of Davis witnessed the killing, is wholly 
false. No man was killed at this mine during De- 
cember, and the records show that no man by the 
name of Hayes was employed at the mine, nor was 
there a man by the name of Davis employed or present, 
so far as can be discovered. 

INSULTS AT STARKVILLE 

Two women of the lower classes, named Kamponi 
and Minardi, testified to certain vile and nasty in- 
sults by soldiers at Starkville. Upon the coming in of 
this testimony, the individuals accused became highly 
indignant. They are young men of good families 
in Colorado Springs, who felt besmirched and humili- 
ated by such false and scurrilous testimony. Acting 
through their captain, Hildreth Frost, the accused 
men submitted to me their sworn statements, together 
with the affidavits of several civilians who witnessed 



62 



the incident referred to by the women, with a request 
that the same be handed to the Committee as a matter 
of personal vindication. From these affidavits it ap- 
pears that these women were continually hanging 
around the soldiers' camp and baiting them with the 
vilest kind of talk imaginable. These women, prior 
to the closing of the saloons in Starkville, used to 
tend bar at a place frequented by the rougher and 
lower element among the miners, and it would appear 
that, instead of the soldiers offering insult to them, 
they went out of their way daily to shout the most 
libidinous words at the troops. The language used 
cannot find space here, but reference is made to the 
affidavits supplied by Captain Frost's men, 

JASSINSKY INCIDENT 

The incident of an alleged robbery testified to by 
the family named Jassinsky, of Suffield, was investi- 
gated by my express direction at the time it was said 
to have occurred. The report of Captain Smith, 
who conducted an exhaustive investigation, wholly 
discredits the .statements made. Captain Smith testi- 
fied before the Committee concerning the matter, and 
it needs no further attention here. 

GRAVE-DIGGING STORY 

A great deal has been said about a man being 
compelled to dig his own grave by a detachment of 
soldiers at Lester. One Andy Colnar has related in 
affidavits, speeches, and interviews with the press a 
horrible tale of his being told that a hole he was com- 
pelled to dig was intended for his own grave; that 
he was measured for it; that he was told in his own 



G3 



language that he was about to be shot and buried; 
and that he was so frightened that he fell fainting 
into the hole. His description of the torture is 
graphic and has been given the widest publicity. The 
tale is made of whole cloth. The incident never oc- 
curred. It is perhaps well that the Committee and 
the public know the facts, that they may judge of 
the methods used by the defamers of the National 
Guard. On or about the 28th of November, 1913, a 
letter was written by Andy Colnar, addressed to Paul 
Antovitch, the fire-boss then working at the Prior 
mine. This letter, written upon the letter-head of 
the United Mine Workers of America, threatened 
violence to Antovitch if he did not instantly quit his 
job and join the union tent colony. The letter was 
delivered by one "Kink" True, who, as soon as 
Antovitch had read it, snatched it from Antovitch, 
saying that it was not necessary for the letter to 
remain in his hancLs. True then conducted Antovitch 
to a cut in the road part way between Prior and ,the 
tent colony, where Andy Colnar and others were 
awaiting him. At this place Colnar threatened and 
intimidated the working miner, who did not return 
to work, but felt it necessary to quit the mine. On 
this information, Captain Drake, in charge of the 
district, directed Lieutenant Work to arrest and de- 
tain Colnar and True, and on the evening of Novem- 
ber 28 both were taken and kept in separate apart- 
ments. True was placed in the upper part of the 
building with a sentry, and Colnar was given a bed 
in the assembly room, and handcuffed with his hands 
in front of him, from 11 o'clock p. m. until 6 o'clock 
the next morning. This was done to prevent escape, 



64 



as there was not a sufficient number of soldiers to 
spare a sentry to guard Colnar. The next morning 
he was given a good breakfast and interviewed by 
Captain Drake, who. demanded of Colnar that he re- 
compose the letter which he had written to Paul 
Antovitch. Colnar protested he could not remember 
it. The captain told him he would remain where he 
was until he did, and left him pencil and paper. 
During the day he sat in the assembly room near a 
comfortable fire. The captain, who had interviewed 
True, produced the original letter to Colnar. 
Antovitch was then sent for, and identified the orig- 
inal letter as the one delivered to him by True. After 
a warning against carrying threatening letters and 
against intimidation, True was released, and Colnar 
was detained for further investigation. True is the 
president of the local union at Prior. The night of 
November 29 Colnar was placed in a comfortable bed 
in the town jail, and the next morning he was taken 
out under guard and set to digging a new latrine. 
The lieutenant had been reprimanded for the condi- 
tion of the old latrine and, as was customary, utilized 
his prisoners for the purpose of digging a new one. 
While Colnar was thus engaged, one of the soldiers, 
who speaks a little Slavish, passed the place and gave 
Colnar a "good morning" in the Slavish tongue. 
Colnar asked this soldier if what he was digging was 
a grave, but before the soldier answered him the drill 
call sounded, and the soldier replied, "I don't know," 
and ran hastily to where the detachment was assem- 
bling. During inspection that morning Colnar was 
placed in an interval in the center of the detachment, 
after which he requested to be permitted to telephone 
to his wife and babies, but the request was denied. 



65 



He then said lie felt sjck, and was asked if he wished 
to go to the latrine, but his answer was unintelligible. 
He was taken out and put to work at the same place. 
About 11:30, after having his dinner, he was again 
interviewed by Captain Drake, who stated that he 
understood that he had a wife and babies out on a 
ranch north of town, and that, if he would promise 
to go and take care of them, and abandon attempts 
to intimidate workmen, he would discharge him and 
permit him to go home, but would keep him under 
surveillance. Colnar was exceedingly thankful; 
dropped to his knees, and invoked the Deity to wit- 
ness that he would not transgress again. He said 
that, if anybody at the tent colony w T anted him to 
write threatening letters again, they could murder 
him before he would do it. The captain told him to 
get to his feet and go to his wife. Colnar' s thanks 
and expressions of gratitude were profuse, and tears 
streamed down his cheeks as he mentioned the good 
meals given him and the kind treatment accorded 
him while a prisoner. He was never measured for 
a grave; he was not told he was digging one; and he 
did not fall fainting into a hole, nor anywhere else; 
neither was he told he was to be shot. Captain Drake 
has still the letter of intimidation as originally writ- 
ten by Colnar. Upon Colnar's release, he shortly 
imagined the weird tale that has earned him so much 
notorietv. 



This campaign has not been a pleasure trip for 
the members of the National Guard, but a tour of duty, 
and the magnified stories circulated concerning al- 
leged offenses or indiscretions on the part of soldiers 



(\Cy 



while performing their duty can be assigned for no 
other reason than that of distracting the attention of 
the public from the real issues involved. 

In concluding this report, I feel that I would be 
derelict in my obligations toward the officers and 
men of my command if I did not emphasize again the 
splendid conduct of the National Guard as a whole. 
These men are volunteer soldiers, who receive a mere 
pittance for their services as compared with their 
ordinary earning capacity in daily life. They have 
promptly and cheerfully responded to the state's call 
in the hour of danger, and their service has been at- 
tended in almost every instance with great personal 
sacrifice, and oftentimes downright suffering. The 
danger of destruction by assassination or otherwise 
has not been wanting. The errand was a patriotic 
one, and occasioned by a quarrel wholly impersonal 
and void of interest to any one of them. The men of 
the Guard have discharged their services well, faith- 
fully, and patiently. For all the task has been a 
thankless one. The only visible return for the sac- 
rificing citizenship displayed has been the heaping of 
reproach and opprobrium, falsehood and scurrility, 
upon the shoulders of the commonwealth's defenders. 
It is hoped that a just and discriminating public will 
in the end come to realize the disinterested service of 
these champions of the state's integrity and honor, 
who for the present have only the consciousness of a 
stern and unpleasant duty well performed to console 
them. 

All of which is very respectfully submitted. 

JOHN CHASE, 
Brigadier General Commanding the Military Dis- 
trict of Colorado. 



APPENDIX 



EXECUTIVE ORDER 

It having been made to appear to me by the peace 
officers and numerous other reputable citizens of vari- 
ous counties in the southern part of the State of Colo- 
rado that large bodies of men have assembled at points 
therein, with the apparent purpose of breaking the 
laws and bringing about a state of disorder beyond 
the power of the regularly constituted peace officers 
of such counties to control, and that the due execution 
of the laws of the State of Colorado requires imme- 
diate preparations against impending outbreaks, and 
the Sheriffs of Las Animas and Huerfano Counties 
having appealed to me for assistance ; 

I, therefore, in pursuance of the authority and 
power vested by the constitution and laws of the 
State of Colorado in me as Governor and Commander- 
in-Chief of the military forces of the State, authorize 
and direct you to call into service and hold in readi- 
ness for immediate mobilization and action, and to 
mobilize, as many of the members of the National 
Guard of Colorado in and near the Arkansas Valley 
as you may deem necessary to maintain peace and 
good order in the various counties. 

Given under my hand and the Executive Seal this 
26th day of October, A. D. 1913. 

ELIAS M. AMMONS, 

( seal ) Governor. 

To JOHN CHASE, Brigadier-General, 

Adjutant General, State of Colorado. 



158 

B 

EXECUTIVE ORDER 

STATE OF COLORADO 

EXECUTIVE OFFICE 

DENVER 

JOHN CHASE, 

The Adjutant General, 
State of Colorado. 

It having been made to appear to me by the 
peace officers of the counties of Las Animas and 
Huerfano, and other counties of the State of Colorado, 
by numerous civil officers and other good and repu- 
table citizens of said counties, that there is a tumult 
threatened, and that there are bodies of men, acting 
together, by force and with attempt to commit fel- 
onies, and to offer violence to persons and property in 
said counties and districts, and by force and violence 
to break and resist the laws of this State, and that a 
number of persons are in possession of deadly weap- 
ons, and are in open and active opposition to the ex- 
ecution of the laws of this State in said Districts, and 
that the civil authorities are wholly unable to cope 
with the situation in the preservation and mainte- 
nance of order, and the laws of the State of Colorado ; 

I, therefore, direct you, in pursuance of the au- 
thority and power vested in me as Governor, by the 
Constitution and laws of the State of Colorado, to 
forthwith order out and assume command of such 
troops of the National Guard of Colorado as in your 
judgment may be necessary to maintain peace and 
order in said districts, and that you use such means 
as you may deem right and proper, acting in conjunc- 



(19 



tion with, or independently of, the civil authorities of 
said districts, as in your judgment and discretion are 
demanded, to restore peace and good order in the 
communities affected, and to enforce obedience to the 
Constitution and laws of this State. 

Given under my hand and the Executive Seal this 
26th day of October, A. D. 1913. 

ELIAS M. AMMONS, 
Governor and Commander-in-Chief. 



c 

GOVERNORS ORDER 

Denver, October 28, 1913. 

GENERAL JOHN CHASE, 

Adjutant General, 

Denver, Colorado. 

Dear Sir : In order to secure a speedy return to 
law and order in the disturbed districts, you are here- 
by directed : 

To disarm everybody unless authorized to bear 
arms. 

To close up saloons wherever there is any dis- 
turbance. 

To require that all persons employed as guards 
in the protection of property shall stay on the prop- 
erty guarded. 

To see that no deputy sheriffs or constables be 
employed except citizens of the county they serve, and 
only in such numbers as niay be deemed necessary 
for the conduct of public business. 







To see that all persons desiring to return to work 
shall be permitted to do so, and to go and come when 
they will, without molestation or interference of any 
kind whatsoever ; and during the restoration of order, 
or until further orders, no strikebreakers shall be 
shipped in. 

With these purposes in view, you should have the 
fullest co-operation of every good citizen. 

Yours truly, 

ELLAS M. AMMONS, 

Governor of Colorado. 



D 

ORDER— WORKMEN 

HEADQUARTERS 

MILITARY DISTRICT OP COLORADO 

ADJUTANT GENERAL'S OFFICE 

Trinidad, November 28, 1913. 

From : Commanding Officer, Military District of Colo- 
rado. 

To : All Commanding Officers. 

Subject : Permitting miners to go to work under the 
law. 

In a letter under date November 27, 1913, and by 
telephonic communication, the Governor has directed 
that after this date the provisions of Chapter 160, Ses- 
sion Laws 1907, page 486, of the Laws of Colorado, re- 
garding the entrance of workmen for the purpose of 
laboring at the mines, must be fully complied with. 



71 



Any person seeking employment at the mines, 
who signifies to your satisfaction that he has com- 
mitted no violation of the statute quoted, will be per- 
mitted to labor at the mines in this district and pro- 
tected while doing so. 

JOHN CHASE, 
Brigadier General Adjutant General's Department. 



E 

ORDER— WORKMEN 

HEADQUARTERS 

MILITARY DISTRICT OF COLORADO 

TRINIDAD, COLORADO 

November 28, 1913. 

GENERAL ORDERS 
NO. 17 

The following is published for the information 
and guidance of all concerned : 

Chapter 160, Session Laws 1907, page 486, Laws 
of Colorado: 

"That it shall be unlawful for any person, 
persons, company, corporation society, association, 
or organization of any kind doing business in this 
state by himself, themselves, his, its or their agents 
or attorneys, to induce, influence, persuade or en- 
gage workmen to change from one place to another 
in this State, or to bring workmen of any class or 
calling into this State to work in any of the de- 
partments of labor in this State through or by 
means of false or deceptive representations false 



advertising or false pretenses concerning the kind 
and character of the work to be done, or amount 
and character of the compensation to be paid 
for such work, or the sanitary or other conditions 
of the employment, or as to the existence or non- 
existence of a strike or lockout pending between 
employer and employees, or failure to state in 
any advertisement, proposal, or contract for the 
employment that there is a strike, lockout, or 
other labor troubles at the place of the proposed 
employment, when in fact such strike, lockout, 
or other labor troubles then actually exist at such 
place, shall be deemed as false advertisement and 
misrepresentation for the purpose of this Act." 
By command of General Chase, 

A. H. WILLIAMS, 
Major, Adjutant General's Department, 
Adjutant General. 



ORDER— ESTABLISHING THE MILITARY COMMIS- 
SION AND JUDGE ADVOCATE 

Trinidad, November 20, 1913. 

GENERAL ORDERS 

No. 11 

1. Pursuant to the authority vested in me by 
the Governor of the State of Colorado, in his Execu- 
tive Order dated at Denver, October 28, 1913, whereby 
I am directed to restore peace and good order, and 
to enforce obedience to the Constitution and Laws of 



'3 



this State, acting either iu eon junction with or inde- 
pendent of the civil authorities, and as a means to 
the carrying out of these directions, there is hereby 
constituted and established the Military Commission 
of the Military District of Colorado. 

2. The Military Commission will consist of seven 
officers of the National Guard of Colorado detailed 
to that service by the Commanding General. 

3. The Military Commission will proceed to hear 
and consider all matters submitted to it from time to 
time bv the constituting authority, and will promptly 
forward its findings and recommendations for execu- 
tion or other appropriate action. 

4. The Judge Advocate of the Military District 
will discharge the usual functions and duties of the 
Judge Advocate to the Military Commission. 

5. The Military Commission and Judge Advo- 
cate will conform their procedure to the regulations 
established for the governance of Courts martial in 
the United States Army. 

By command of General Chase, 

( Signed ) A. H. WILLIAMS, 
Major, Adjutant General's Department, 
Adjutant General. 



74 



ORDER— THE MILITARY COMMISSION AND JUDGE 
ADVOCATE 

Trinidad, November 28, 1913. 

GENERAL ORDERS 
No. 16 

The Military Commission constituted and estab- 
lished by these headquarters and promulgated in Gen- 
eral Order No. 11, dated Headquarters Military Dis- 
trict of Colorado, Trinidad, Colorado, November 29, 
1913, is hereby directed to convene at Trinidad, Colo- 
rado, November 29, 1913. 

DETAILS FOR THE COMMISSION 

Colonel C. B. Carlile, Inspector General. 

Colonel Edward Verdeckburg, First Infantry, N. G. C. 

Colonel George P. Lingenfelter, Surgeon General. 

Major A. H. Williams, Adjutant General's Depart- 
ment. 

Captain A. D. Marshall, Commissary, First Infantry, 
N. G. C. 

First Lieutenant W. A. Spangler, Adjutant, First 
Squadron Cavalry, N. G. C. 

JUDGE ADVOCATE 

Major E. J. Boughton, Second Infantry, N. G. C. 

The travel enjoined required in compliance with 
this order is necessary for the public service, and the 
quartermaster department will furnish the necessary 
transportation. 

By order of General Chase, 

(Signed) A. H. WILLIAMS, 
Major, Adjutant General's Department, 
Adjutant General. 



H 

CORRESPONDENCE AND REPORTS— ALLEGED 
INTERFERENCE WITH MAILS 



LETTER 

Rugbv, Colo., December 20, 1913. 

MR. F. T. FRAWLEY, 

Post-Office Inspector, 
Denver, Colorado. 

Dear Sir: Wish to write you a few happenings 
of last few days. The soldiers who are stationed at 
Primrose Mine held me up at the point of their guns 
Monday, December 15th, and demanded I open mail 
pouch for them. On Thursday, December 18th, they 
stopped me and asked who I was. I told them I was 
the mail carrier they Politely? informed me to take 

my mail and stick it up my A . I wish to know 

if I have to put up with these doings any longer. 
Yours truly, 

ANDRO SUTAK. 



2 
LETTER 

Rugby, Colo., December 26, 1913. 

WILLLIAM McHENRY, 

Inspector in Charge, 

Denver, Colorado. 
Dear Sir: Replying to yours of the 22nd re- 
garding treatment accorded Mr. Andro Sutak, mail 



carrier, while in performance of his duties, will say 
the National Guard have been guarding the property 
of the Primrose Coal Co., and the post office being 
situated on their property, it is necessary for the 
mail carrier to pass through their property and has 
been halted several times by the guards at night. 
Mr. Sutak told me about them demanding him to 
open mail sack. I investigated and was told by the 
guardsmen that they had demanded of him to pro- 
duce the sack as evidence that he was mail carrier. 
As for second offense on December 18th, the guards- 
men on duty on that night had been transferred to 
Lester and as Mr. Sutak does not knoAvwho they were, 
I am unable to get any information on that occur- 
rence. Would suggest that Major Hamrock at Rouse 
could supply their names. There was no witnesses 
as to these occurrences other than mail carrier and 
guardsman. 

Yours very respectfully, 

JAMES J. SHEELEY, 
Postmaster, Rugby, Colo. 



LETTER 

December 31, 1913. 

HON. E. M. AMMONS, Governor, 
Denver, Colorado. 

Sir : There is transmitted herewith correspond- 
ence regarding the complaint of Mr. Andro Sutak, 
mail carrier at Rugby, Colo., regarding alleged mis- 



i I 



treatment of himself while engaged in the perform- 
ance of his duties, by members of the Colorado Na- 
tional Guard. 

I shall appreciate the fact if you will kindly have 
this matter brought to the attention of the guards- 
men concerned, if possible, advising them of the pro- 
visions of Section 1712, Postal Laws and Regulations 
of 1913, being Section 3995, Revised Statutes, U. S., 
which reads as follows : 

"Whoever shall knowingly and willfully ob- 
struct or retard the passage of the mail, or any 
carriage, horse, driver or carrier, or car, steam- 
boat, or other conveyance or vessel carrying the 
same, shall be fined not more than one hundred 
dollars, or imprisoned not more than six months 
or both." 

Kindly have the papers returned to this office. 
Respectfully, 
WILLIAM McHENRY, 

Inspector in Charge. 
(inclosure) 



LETTER 



January 3, 1914. 



GENERAL JOHN CHASE, 

Trinidad, Colorado. 

Dear General Chase : I enclose you communica- 
tion from the Post Office Inspector enclosing letters 
relating to the same. When you have investigated 



•s 



this matter, please return to me, as Inspector 
McHenry requested return of the papers, and oblige. 

Yours sincerely, 

E. M. AMMONS. 



REPORIT 

Rouse, January 11, 1914. 

From : Captain Chas, G. Swope, First Infantry. 

To: Major P. J. Hamrock, First Infantry. 

Subject : Report on stopping U. S. mail-carrier, Andro 

Sutak. 

1. Upon the proper investigation I find the fol- 
lowing to be the facts : That Andro Sutak, a U. S. 
Mail Carrier between Rugby R. R. Station and the 
Primrose Mine P. O., was halted as alleged, upon the 
two nights of Dec. 15th and 18th, 1913, that at both 
times of his being halted was during the hours of dark- 
ness and that in both instances Sutak continued to 
drive on despite command to halt until the command 
was repeated three times. He would then halt and 
according to his own statements made to me, hid the 
Mail sack under the seat of his wagon, so that there 
was nothing in view to indicate to the soldiers that 
he was the mail carrier and was not on one of his 
many trips to and from the mine on the same road 
when he did not carry the mail. Sutak when ques- 
tioned by me made his own voluntary statement that 
it Avas too dark both nights for any one the distance 
'away the sentries were when he was halted to distin- 



guish what it was he held in his hand. He also stated 
that the soldiers did not point their guns at him, that 
all he heard was, Charlie drop a gun on him. Now it 
may be well to mention that since Dec. 14th, when 
these troops were posted at this mine that there has 
never been a soldier here whose first name is Charlie, 
nor any soldier of that Nickname, and that only one 
soldier went out to investigate the party and it is a 
fact as shown by statements that on the night of the 
18th he had two other persons in the wagon with him, 
that also following behind his wagon was another 
wagon so close that conversation was easily heard be- 
tween the sentry and Sutak by persons in the wagon 
in the rear of his and the verbal statements of the 
two ladies that were in the rear wagon made to me 
were to the effect that at no time during that halt did 
the sentry use any language to Sutak, that was not 
proper in the presence of ladies. Thus showing to be 
false the written statement made by Sutak that the 
sentry told him what to do with the mail sack. I 
further find that Sutak on the night of the 15th when 
told he could drive on, threatened the soldiers and 
swore at them, and that before the sentry reached him 
on that night he hid the mail sack under the seat of his 
wagon, he also said that the soldiers did not open the 
mail sack and that he carried no sign whatever to 
show that he was a U. S. Mail carrier. 

2. In the examination of the soldiers on duty at 
this post on the nights of the 15th and 18th of Dec. 
1913, I find that the soldiers were obeying the orders 
issued to them by myself to wit : To allow no one to 
enter upon the property of the mine unless they had 
an identification signed by the superintendent or a 



so 



pass signed by some Officer of the National Guard 
and as the mail carrier was accustomed to carry pas- 
sengers along with the mail, he and the passengers 
must be identified during the hours of darkness and 
that anyone coming for their mail from the tent 
colony by allowed to pass through to the Post Office 
but not allowed to roam at large upon the company's 
property, owing to conditions that now and have been 
existing for some time in this part of Las Animas 
County. 

3. The investigation points to the fact that Sutak 
has been trying in every way to make the duty for the 
soldiers at this point difficult to perform. 

Sutak is of a surly disposition with the sole idea 
that he is a little tin God and that he has a great 
many more privileges than any one else. 

He is also laboring under the mistaken idea that 

because he is the mail carrier he can haul people 

into the mining camp that are not desired there and 

while doing so pass the Guard lines without halting. 

(Signed) CHAS. G. SWOPE. 



6 
STATEMENT 

Primrose, Colo., January 9, 1914. 

From : Lieutenant Ralph E. Waldo. 

To : Major Hamrock. 

Subject : Statement of facts in regard to treatment 

of mail-carrier from Rugby station to Rugby 

post-office. 

We the undersigned, citizens of Colorado, hereby 
state that we are acquainted with Andro Sutak, the 



81 



mail carrier from Rugby Station to the Rugby Post 
Office, that he does not have a sign upon his wagon 
indicating his employment as mail carrier. 

S. Mallot, Supt. Primrose Coal Co. 

E. J. Peterson, Cashier Primrose Coal Co. 

Geo. Booher, Blacksmith. 

Art McClellan, Engineer. 

A. J. Willaby, Teamster. 

Pauline Mallot, Teacher. 

Vera Limberg, Teacher. 

John J. Sheeley, Post Master, Rugby, Colorado. 

Dan Bergarno, Saloon. 

Joe Maloney, Marshall. 

Thos. M. Laughlin, Supt. Rugby Mine. 

R. D. Bishard, Engineer Rugby Mine. 

Wm. N. Brown, Pitt Boss Rugby. 



STATEMENT 
Primrose, Colo., January 9, 1914. 

From : Lieutenant Ralph E. Waldo. 

To : Major Hamrock. 

Subject : Statement of fact in regard to treatment of 
mail-carrier from Rugby station to Rugby post- 
office. 

We the undersigned citizens of Colorado, hereby 
state that we are acquainted with Andro Sutak, the 
mail carrier from Rugby station to the Rugby Post 
Office, that he does not hare a sign upon his wagon 
indicating his employment as Mail carrier. 



82 



Chas. G. Swope, Captain 1st Infantry, Rouse District. 

Ralph E. Waldo, Lieut 2nd Infantry, Rouse District. 

Frank E. Tinker, Sgt. 1st Infantry, Primrose camp. 

John Kaiser, Corpl. 1st Infantry, Rouse, Camp. 

Leonard Hobbs. 

Harry Skugartt," Co. E 2nd Infantry. 

Floyd M. Stevens, Co. C. 1st Infantry, Primrose camp. 

A. R. Hangley, Pvt. Co. C. 1st Infantry, Primrose 

camp. 
John E. Stevens, Co. E. 2nd Infantry, Primrose camp. 
Raleigh E. Parnell, Co. C. 1st Infantry, Primrose 
camp. 



AFFIDAVIT 

State of Colorado, County of Las Animas, ss. 

J. F. Maloney, being first duly sworn upon his 
oath, deposes and says: That he is acquainted with 
Andro Sutak, mail carrier from Rugby station to 
Rugby Post Office, that on or about Dec. 18th, 1913, 
he heard said Andro Sutak say in the Rugby Post 
Office, after he had been halted, by the soldiers that 
same evening: "I wish that there were only two of 
them (meaning soldiers) instead of four, I fix thein." 

(Signed) J. F. MALONEY. 

Subscribed and sworn to before me this 10th day 
of January, 1914. 

(Signed) H. A. MALLOT, 

Justice of Peace. 



83 

9 
AFFIDAVIT 

State of Colorado, County of Las Animas, ss. 

A. J. Willaby, being first duly sworn upon his 
oath, deposes and says that he is acquainted with 
Andro Sutak, mail carrier from Rugby Station to 
Rugby Post Office. That on or about Dec. 18th, 1913, 
he heard said Andro Sutak say at the door of the 
Rugby Post Office to John Sheeley, Postmaster, 
"Theni Son's of Bitches of soldiers held me up and 
stopped me with Mail." John Sheeley said, "Did they 
bother the mail?" "God Dam them they had better 
not or we will make it hot for them." "I told them 
to look into the mail if they wanted to." "They said 
NO." "Just wanted to know who I was." 

(Signed) A. J. WILLABY. 

Subscribed and sworn to before the this 10th day 
of January, 1914. 

H. A. MALLOT, 
Justice of Peace. 



10 

STATEMENT 

Private F. Burton Smith, Company E, Second In- 
fantry, N. G. G, makes the following statement to 
Captain Charles G. Swope, First Infantry, N. G. C, 
Rouse District : 

That on the night of Dec. 15th, 1913, I was one of 
the guards on duty at the Tipple of the Primrose 



84 



Mine, that at about 8 P. M., we heard a wagon coming 
towards the post from the direction of the Rugby 
tent colony. P. C. Cummings went to the window 
of the Guard House and halted the wagon. When it 
was about even with the Tipple, Stevens, Smith, Pazza 
and myself went down stairs to go out to see what it 
was, we then heard the fellow say he was the Mail 
man and held up something in his hand, but it was 
so dark that we would not see what it was. Stevens 
then went up to the bridge and crossed the Arroya 
that was between us and the party and came down 
to the party, looked at the sack and then hollered to 
Pat Cummings that it was the mail sack and Pat told 
him to let him go on. Then as the Mail carrier drove 
away, he said, "You fellows will get into trouble for 
stopping the mail," and something else that I did not 
hear. I was informed by different men at the Prim- 
rose mine where this carrier lives that the carrier 
had said he was going to make it hot for us, that he 
was going to take it up with Washington. 

(Signed) FRANK BURTON SMITH, 

Co. E. 2nd Infantry. 
Witness : J. H. WITTMEYER. 



11 
STATEMENT 

To Whom it May Concern : 

A statement of the facts as reported by Corporal 
John Kaiser, of Company C, First Infantry, on de- 
tached duty at Primrose mine, Colorado : 

On the night of the 18th of Dec. 1913, I was in 
charge of the post at the Tipple of the Primrose Mine. 



s: 



It was a dark night, there was no Moon and the road 
at this point on my post passes by Hight banks on the 
opposite side to the sentry post established at this 
point. It was about 8 P. M. when I heard a team 
approaching from the direction of Rugby Tent Col- 
ony. I shouted to the driver to halt and asked who it 
was and received no answer. The driver kept advanc- 
ing towards me. I then called the second time. He 
then said it is the mail. I then asked him why he 
could not say so at first and he said, Can't you see? 
I then said no, it is too dark. He theu said, you had 
better come out here and see. I said I can, if neces- 
sary. I then allowed him to drive on. After this he 
would sometimes call out the Mail and we would let 
him pass on without halting him. On this particular, 
Ave did not have the flash light as the battery had 
burned out. After and before this any time we would 
halt him which we were required to do in the dis- 
charge of our duties. At this point he would get 
angry. Our instructions at this point were to allow 
no one to pass through to the mine without examining 
them to see if they had business there. This applied 
to the tour of duty at this post during hours of 
darkness. When we were required to be very strict 
about allowing any one into the mine as it was here 
the poAvder magazine had been blown up by some 
miscreant a short time before we arrived at this post. 
Thus we were constantly on the alert to prevent a 
repetition of the same thing again. Sutak had with 
him in his wagon at this time, two other people. He 
also runs a livery business here at the mine and quite 
often goes down to the Rugby station after dark to get 



8G 



passengers, thus he has passed our post several times 
after dark when he was not carrying the mail. 

(Signed) CORPORAL JOHN KAISER, 
Witness : SERGEANT F. L. TINKER. 



12 
STATEMENT 
To Whom it }Iay Concern : 

A statement of the facts as reported by John E. 
Stevens, a private of Company E, Second Infantry, 
N. G. G, stationed on detached duty at Primrose 
mine, Colorado: 

I was on duty at the post which is located at the 
Tipple of the Primrose Mine on the night of Dec. 
15th, 1913. 

A rig of some kind was coming up the road from 
the direction of the Rugby Station about 8 P. M. We 
called Halt and nobody answered and neither did 
they stop, at the next call to halt, some one threw 
up his hand with what locked like a sack in it and 
started to drive on. We called halt again and then 
I crossed an Arroya that intervened between us, to 
see what he was holding in his hand. I found it to 
be a U. S. Mail sack. I then told him he could go 
ahead, he said , Dam you, you had no right to stop 
the U. S. Mail, as I have more right here than you 
and by God you had better do it again. When I first 
called halt, Sutak was about 60 feet down the road 
from my post. At the second command to halt, he 
was probably 30 feet from me. At the third command, 



87 



he was about 20 feet away. The men on the post that 
night with me were, C. P. Cummings, Joe Pazza and 
F. Burton Smith. I heard no remarks like drop your 
gun on him, Charlie. 

(Signed) JOHN E. STEVENS. 
Witness: LIEUTENANT KALPH E. WALDO. 



REPORTS— ALLEGED OVERWORKING TRAIN 
CREW 



REPORT OF LIEUTENANT GRIFFIN, COM- 
PANY I, SECOND INFANTRY 

December 25, 1913. 

Ran down to junction at 7:50 P. M., lay there 
until passenger train going south passed. I went out 
and asked conductor what was causing the delay. He 
said "Oh nothing, only waiting for trains." I told 
him that I was ordered to report back to camp as soon 
as possible. He said that they would get out as soon 
as they could. We laid there probably a half hour 
after that. The engine and caboose came in and we 
pulled out for Trinidad. Mr, Fulton came to me be- 
fore we pulled out and told me that they were stall- 
ing to leave us in the yards, which they did. I went 
to the conductor and told him that he was put on the 
train to deliver those men and return us to Trinidad 
and I was going to see that he did so, even if I had 
to put him under arrest. The Engineer in the Cab 
window said to me "What is your rank, and who are 



88 



you?" I said, "It does not make any difference 
who I am, I was put on this train to look after those 
men and I intended to do so and see that we are taken 
back to the depot." I then told him that I was W. W. 
Griffin. He then remarked, "Do you know that you 
are up against the United States Government?" I 
told him that it did not make any difference to me 
that I was with the State of Colorado and under 
Gen. Chase and I would report it to him. 

We got off the train and came back to camp. 

(Signed) WILLIAM W. GRIFFIN. 



REPORT OF SERGEANT GOODELL, COMPANY 
I, SECOND INFANTRY 

To Whom it May Concern : 

I the undersigned make the following Statements 
about and concerning a conversation held by myself 
and a man, name and face unknown to me, who was at 
the time on the Engineer's side of a locomotive, said 
Locomotive was a part of a train of which the party 
that I was with was on. Their man asked questions 
as to the feeling of the soldiers of the National Guard 
towards unions. I replied that the soldiers mostly 
came from small towns and the men were strictly in 
favor of a square deal to all people. He then stated 
that the trainmen had it in for the militiamen, that 
the militia was always used against the interests of 
the union. 

I asked why we was so slow getting anywhere, 
why we was waiting so long and he replied that he 



89 



thought the trainmen were stalling. I asked him why 
and he replied that the sixteen hour law would soon 
be up. I swear this conversation was true. 

SERGEANT GOODELL, 

Co. "I," 2nd Inft. 



K 

REPORTS — ALLEGED GRAVE-DIGGING INCIDENT 

HEADQUARTERS 

MILITARY DISTRICT OF COLORADO 

TRINIDAD, COLORADO 

(COPY) 

From : A. C. Drake, Captain First Infantry. 
To : The Commanding Officer, First Infantry. 
Subject : Case of Andrew Colnar. 

Upon your request for a more detailed report than 
was submitted in my daily reports of Nov. 28, 29 and 
30, 1913 : I submit the following : On November 28, 
1913, Doctor Stanley, resident physician of the Pryor 
Mine came to me with this information: That one 
Paul Antovitch, Fire Boss at the Pryor Mine has re- 
ceived a letter headed the U. M. W. A. and signed by 
Andy Cdlnar delivered to him by one "Kink" True, 
President of the local union of the Pryor tent colony, 
threatening him with violence if he did not give up 
his position and job and come to them in the tent city 
where they would protect him. "Kink" True who 
delivered the letter grabbed it away from Paul as soon 
as Paul had read it, stating that he (Paul) did not 
need to have it in his possession. He then conducted 



90 



Paul to a cut on the D. & E. G. tracks part way be- 
tween Pryor and the tent city where this said man 
Colnar and another man, whose name I do not know, 
interviewed said Paul ; stating that he must leave the 
mine and come to them (Tent City) or leave the 
Country; Paul did not return to work at the mine. 
He formally asked for his time the next morning. I 
immediately ordered Lieut, Work to cause the arrest 
and detention of Andy Colnar and Kink True in sepa- 
rate compartments, not allowing them to see each 
other or any of their friends. That evening (Nov. 
28th, 1913) Lieut. Work phoned me that he had both 
parties wanted. I had sent Lieut. Work one pair of 
hand cuffs to use if necessary to prevent the escape 
of either of these men. On the 29th as you will note 
in your daily report, I went over to Lester and inter- 
viewed the prisoner. I demanded of Colnar that he 
recompose the letter which he had written to Paul 
Antovitch. He told me that he could not remember, 
I informed him that he would remain with us until 
he did remember it, either wholly or in part. He 
was left with pencil and paper in the assembly room 
while I went to interview True. True contended that 
while he had been president of the local union at tent 
city of Pryor for two weeks, he did not know the con- 
tents of the letter. I demanded the letter -of him. 
He produced it. I then left him to be interviewed 
again, later. I then returned to Colnar who had writ- 
ten what was supposed to be a copy of the letter he 
wrote to Paul. I then had a detail go up and arrest 
Paul, who, when brought before me, gave me this 
information. "I came out of the mine from shift, 
and went to a neighbors house for some pictures which 



1)1 



I had left there and this "Kink" True came to the 
house and told me that he had a letter of a notice 
for me. That the said Andy Colnar and another man 
wanted to see me down in the cut. I went and on the 
way I asked True where was the letter." True gave 
him the letter to read and as soon as Paul had read 
it, True took it out of his hands, saying that he did 
not need to keep it in his possession. They went to 
the cut where the two men, Colnar and the other man 
explained to him, (Paul) why he must not work, that 
he (Paul) must either quit his job and come to them 
or leave the country. I showed him ( Paul ) the letter 
which Colnar had just written and asked him if that 
was the letter he had received from Andy Colnar. He 
said "No, not exactly, there was more in the other 
letter but some things in the other letter was in this." 
I then took the original letter out of my pocket and at 
first sight of it he jumped up exclaiming, "That's the 
letter. Where did you get him?" I then let him read 
it to make sure and he claimed it was the identical 
letter. These foreigners seem to think that the green 
print on the letter heads of the Union stationery is 
symbolic of the Powers that be. I then returned to 
True and after giving him fair warning never to be 
a carrier or instigator of threatening letters or in- 
timidation, ordered his release for the time being. 

Colnar was detained for further investigation. 
The next day, on the 30th, I interviewed Colnar again. 
He was in our cell at Lester when I reached the post. 
I had him brought before me and explained to him 
that I understood he had a wife and four babies out 
on a ranch north of town and that if he would give 
me his promise to go home and take care of that wife 



92 



and babies and keep away from the tent city at Pryor 
and all other people who were trying to intimidate 
any one working, or living in our district, I would 
have him discharged for the time being, but that I 
would keep track of him and visit him about once a 
week. He seemed very thankful for the courtesies 
extended; dropping to his knees, praying to me and 
his God that if he so much as hurt a fly without my 
consent "I can take, him out and shoot him." "That 
if anyone at the tent city or the union wanted him 
to write any more letters to anyone, they can murder 
him he will not do it." I told him to get up on his feet 
and go home to his wife. He said he would go to 
work at the mine the next day. I told him "No." 
I did not ask him to go to work. He was out on 
strike and he could stay out just as long as he was 
able, providing he did not attempt to coerce or intim- 
idate or threaten or use violence toward any other 
man or woman who wanted to work. He thanked me 
kindly with tears streaming down his face for the 
good meals given him and the kindness extended to 
him in allowing him to go home, wishing to shake 
hands with me on parting, which I never do. This is 
all I believe covering the Colnar case. I still have 
the letters written by Colnar to Paul in my posses- 
sion. 

(Signed) ALLISON C. DRAKE, 

Capt. 1st Inf. 



93 



HEADQUARTERS 

MILITARY DISTRICT OF COLORADO 

TRINIDAD, COLORADO 

From: Marion D. Work, Second Lieutenant, First 

Infantry. 
To : The Commanding Officer, First Infantry. 

Subject: Report on alleged ill-treatment of Andy 
Colnar. 

On the afternoon of Friday, November 28th, 
1913, I received an order from Capt. A. C. Drake, 
instructing me to arrest and hpld one "Kink" True, 
and one Andy Colnar. He also sent me a pair of 
handcuffs and further instructed me to allow no one 
to talk with these men, keeping them in separate 
rooms and using the handcuffs on one of the prison- 
ers in the night time if necessary. That evening, 
about 5 o'clock, the two soldiers who had been de- 
tailed to arrest True and Colnar, reported in with 
the two men. Andy Colnar was placed in the assem- 
bly room, where there were several soldiers. "Kink" 
True was taken upstairs and placed in a room with 
one sentry over him. That night Andy Colnar was 
given a bed in the assembly room and about 11 P. M. 
was handcuffed, hands in front of him. About 6 
o'clock Saturday morning, (the next day) the hand- 
cuffs were removed. He was handcuffed to prevent his 
escape, as I did not have the soldiers to spare in order 
to place a sentry over him. He was given a good break- 
fast and about 9 :30 that morning was interviewed 
by Capt. A. C. Drake. During that day he sat in 
the assembly room near a comfortable fire. That night 



94 



he was placed in the jail where there is a comfortable 
bed. This jail is a concrete place about 7 ft. by 10 ft. 
and was formerly used as a storehouse. The next day 
about 8 A. M. he was taken out under guard and set 
to work digging a hole which I intended to use for a 
latrine. The old latrine was dirty and in an unde- 
sirable place. I had been reprimanded the day before 
by Capt. Drake for having the latrine in such condi- 
tion. - A corporal was sent out to measure the old 
latrine and also the hole to see if it was large enough. 
Sometime afterward one of the soldiers, who speaks 
Slavish a very little, was going by the place where 
Colnar was working and said "Good Morning" to him 
in the Slavish language. Colnar asked this soldier if 
the place he was digging was a grave. The soldier 
started to answer him when the call for drill was 
sounded. The soldier said "I don't know" and ran 
to where the detachment had been falling in. An in- 
spection of quarters and of the detachment had been 
ordered for the morning and took place at 10 A. M. 
During the inspection of the detachment the prisoner 
was placed in an interval in the center of the detach- 
ment. Inspection being over Colnar asked to be 
allowed to telephone to his wife and babies. The re- 
quest was refused for the reason that Captain Drake 
had given orders that he be allowed to talk to no one. 
He then said he felt sick and I asked him if he wished 
to go to the latrine. His reply was unintelligible. 
He was then taken out and put to work at the same 
place. About 11:30 he was brought in and given a 
good dinner. After he had eaten dinner he was in- 
terviewed by Capt. Drake. He was discharged at 
1 :30 P. M. So far as I have been able to determine, 
no one told Andy Colnar that he was digging a grave. 



95 



No one told him he was to be shot and so far as I 
have been able to find out no one even said to another 
that the place resembled a grave. It is possible 
although not probable that the later thing could have 
happened without my knowledge. To the best of my 
knowledge, Andy Colnar was not measured for a 
grave nor did he fall fainting into the hole. Close 
questioning of the soldiers comprising the Lester de- 
tachment affirm the statements that he was not told 
he was to be shot, he was not told he was digging a 
grave, he was not measured and he did not fall faint- 
ing in the hole. I did not ask Andy Colnar to what 
church he belonged but asked him for the reason that 
I wished to determine his nationality as I knew some 
Russians belonged to the Greek Catholic while Mon- 
tenegrins, Hungarians and some others belonged to 
the Roman Catholic Church. 

(Signed) MARION D. WORK, 

2nd Lieut. 1st. Inf. N. G. C. 



L 

REPORT— ALLEGED PEONAGE AT HASTINGS AND 
DELAGUA 

Hastings, Colo., January 24, 1914. 

From : The Commanding Officer of Company L, First 

Infantry. 
To: The Commanding General, Military District of 

Colorado. 
Subject : Concerning passes for civilians. 

1. In regard to the manner of handling civilians 
who desired to leave the mining camps of Hastings 
and Delagua, I will state that since the 12th day of 



96 



November, 1913, on which date I became the com- 
manding officer of "L" Co., in charge of these two 
camps, and up to the present time, all civilians who 
made application to leave the camp were promptly 
given proper passes and at no time has the military 
been instrumental in detaining any one who desired 
to leave the camp or quit work, and no force or co- 
ercion used in this direction. 

2. When civilians were found wandering about 
the hills near the camp they were courteously re- 
quested and required to return to the camp and ob- 
tain proper permission from the officer in charge, 
this was deemed a proper precaution to be taken 
under the existing circumstances. 

3. It is inferred from a certain report and affi- 
davits that a man was killed at the mine at Delagua 
during December 1913, while trying to leave the mine 
and quit work and that soldiers under my command 
were presumably present and participated in this de- 
tention; that the man supposed to have been killed 
was Hayes and that a man by the name of Davis was 
present, but upon investigation I am convinced that 
no such occurrence ever took place, also there has been 
no man by the name of Hayes working at the mine, 
neither has there been a man by the name of Davis at 
the mine nor in the Delagua camp, and no man under 
my command has ever heard of the death of a man as . 
charged in the affidavits, until the contents of the 
affidavits were read. My information is that no man 
has been killed at the mine at all, during the time 
mentioned. The statements in regard to this matter 
must be without foundation. 

C. D. DAVIDSON, 
1st Lieut, 1st Inf. Com'dg., Co. "L." 



97 

M 

CORRESPONDENCE AND REPORTS— ALLEGED DIS- 
TURBANCES AT LUDLOW 

1 

TELEGRAM 

Trinidad, Colo., December 31, 1913. 

HON. ELIAS M. AMMONS, 



Governor of Colorado, 
Denver, Colorado. 

We did not expect to report to you until we had 
completed the taking of testimony at all camps but 
in our judgment the following serious matter should 
be reported to you at once. Lieut. E. K. Linderfelt 
of the cavalry stationed at Berwind last night at 
Ludlow brutally assaulted an offensive boy in the 
public railroad station using the vilest language at 
the same time he also assaulted and tried to provoke 
to violence Louis Tikas, Headman of Ludlow Strikers 
Colony and arrested him unjustifiably today in the 
presence of one of our number he grossly abused a 
young man in no way connected with the strike say- 
ing among other things "I am Jesus Christ and my 
men on horses Jesus Christ and we must be obeyed" 
also making threats against the strikers in foulest 
language he rages violently upon little or no provoca- 
tion and is wholly an unfit man to bear arms and 
command men as he had no control over himself we 
reason to believe that it is his deliberate purpose to 



98 



provoke the strikers to bloodshed in the interest of 
peace and justice we ask immediate action in this 
case. 

JOHN R. LAWSON, 
FRANK T. MINER, 
JAMES H. BREWSTER, 
JAMES KIRWAN, 
ELI M. GROSS, 

Committee. 



2 
LETTER 



January 17, 1914. 



From : Commanding General, M. D. C. 
To: Major P. J. Hamroek, Ludlow, Colo. 
Subject: Investigation of charges. 

I am enclosing herewith a telegram transmitted 
to me by his Excellency, Elias M. Ammons, Governor 
of Colorado, with directions that report be rendered 
thereon. I wish you to investigate this matter at 
once. You will also investigate and report on the 
alleged actions of Lieutenant Linderfelt last night in 
filling the well used by the tent colony at Ludlow 
with wire. 

(Signed) JOHN CHASE. 



99 

3 

REPORT 

Ludlow, Colo., January 1, 1914. 

From : Lieutenant F. S. Doll, 
To : The Commanding Officer, Ludlow District. 
Subject : Report on disturbance at Ludlow railroad 
station, January 1, 1914. 

1. Lieut. Linderfelt entered station at about 7 :15 
P. M. saw Pvt. Cuthbertson, one of his men who had 
been thrown from his horse and apparently seriously 
injured by a barbed wire stretched across the road 
near Tent Colony. Lieut. Linderfelts men reported 
that people of colony had stretched wire maliciously. 

Under circumstances Lieut. Linderfelt displayed 
justifiable temper, went to Louis Tikas who stood in 
station, swore at him and ordered him outside of sta- 
tion where the Lieut, forcibly pushed him against 
wall and ordered Tikas to tell what he knew about 
wire. Tikas pleaded ignorance and Linderfelt threat- 
ened to hit him. I told Linderfelt to stop the rough 
method that if he saw fit we would arrest Tikas and 
take him before Major Kennedy, this was done. 

Mr. Farver (agent for C. & C.) called me into 
station and pointed out boy whose head was cut, 
Farber complained that Lieut. Linderfelt had hit boy. 
Investigation proved that the boy did not know who 
hit him and nobody saw Linderfelt or his men hit boy. 
Lieut. Linderfelt said he did not hit boy, but arrested 
him. Boy had scratch on head which our hospital 
man dressed. 



100 



Further investigation brought forth conflicting 
statements from Lieut. Linderfelt's men concerning 
wire, and people of colony pleaded innocence. 

(Signed) FREDERICK S. DOLL. 



4 
REPOET 

Aguilar, Colo., January 18, 1914. 

From: Major P. J. Hamrock, 

To : Commanding General, M. D. C. 

Subject: Investigation of charges. 

1. In compliance with your order of January 
14th, 1914, I went to Ludlow and found Louis Tikas. I 
did not find the boy that Lieut. Linderfelt is accused 
of striking. I questioned a number of men and find that 
there is a very bad feeling at the tent colony toward 
Lieut. Linderfelt. They say that he was mine guard 
before the militia was called out, and John R. Lawson 
speaking of Lieut. Linderfelt said to Capt. Van Cise 
and a number of his men at the Ludlow depot, "We 
will get him yet." 

I find that wire was strung across the road on the 
night of Dec. 7th, 1913, resulting in the injury of 
Col. Cuthbertson by being thrown from his horse. 
Again on the night of Dec. 30th, 1913, wire was strung 
across the road. Lieut. Linderfelt ordered some of 
his men that had wire-cutters to cut the wire, they 
cut the wire in short lengths and dropped it in a well 
about 100 yards south of the tent colony. 



101 



When Lieut. Linderfelt arrived at the Ludlow 
station, Louis Tikas was there and Linderfelt accused 
him of knowing who put the wire across the road. 
Tikas said he did not know, Linderfelt then pushed 
him out on the platform and told him to tell the 
truth. Tikas was then confronted with a boy who 
claimed to be known by him, but he, Tikas denied 
any knowledge of the boy, thereupon he was placed 
under arrest and sent to Major Kennedy under guard. 
Tikas later admitted to me that he knew the boy and 
that he had been in the tent colony most of that day. 
Tikas also said the boy is a member of the union but 
does not live in the colony. 

2. I find that the telegram to Governor Amnions 
is biased and very much exaggerated. I can find no 
one who saw Lieut. Linderfelt strike or assault either 
Mr.- Tikas or the boy. I do find that Lieut. Linder- 
felt upon pushing Tikas from the depot to the plat- 
form, swore at him. 



(Signed) P. J. HAMROCK, 

Commanding Camp at Aguilar. 



102 



REPORT 

Berwind, Colo. 

From : K. E. Linderfelt, First Lieutenant and Batt'n. 
Adjutant, Second Infantry, 

To : Major P. J. Hamrock, Commanding Ludlow Dis- 
trict. 

Subject : Report of telegram sent to the Governor. 

1. Lieut. K. E. Linderfelt of the cavalry sta- 
tioned at Berwind last night at Ludlow brutally as- 
saulted an inoffensive boy in the public railroad sta- 
tion, using the vilest language at the same time. He 
also assaulted and tried to provoke to violence Louis 
Tikas, headman at the Ludlow striker's colony, and ar- 
rested him unjustifiably. Today in the presence of 
one of our members, he grossly abused a young man 
in no way connected with the strike, saying among 
other things, "I am Jesus Christ, and my men on 
horses are Jesus Christs, and we must be obeyed," 
also making threats against the strikers in the foulest 
language. He rages violently on little or no provoca- 
tion and is wholly an unfit man to bear arms and com- 
mand men, as he has not control over his men. We 
have reason to believe that it is his deliberate purpose 
to provoke the strikers to bloodshed. In the interest 
of peace and justice, we ask immediate action in his 
case. Signed. 

2. The telegram sent by John R. Lawson and 
committee is only a fabrication of their own evil 
minds. 



103 



3. On the evening of the 30th of Dec. a patrol 
from my company under command of Sgt. Taylor was 
returning from Barnes and when opposite the Lud- 
low tent colony in the county road, Cpl. Cuthbertson's 
horse struck a double strand of barbed wire with his 
knees and became unmanagable and entangled him- 
self in the wire in such a mananer that the corporal 
was thrown and severely injured and the horses was 
cut in several places by the barbs on the wire. Earlier 
in the evening I had passed this place accompanied by 
1st Sgt. Casey, Q. M. Sgt. MacDonald and Sgt. Davis 
and Sgt. MacDonald who was in front dismounted 
and tore down what appeared to be a barb wire en- 
tanglement placed across the county road for the de- 
liberate purpose of throwing our mounted patrol and 
killing or wounding our men if possible. Since then, 
on the 7th of present month, another wire entangle- 
ment was found almost in the same place by one of my 
men, which we removed. On the night of the 30th of 
Dec. 1913-— after Corpl. Cuthbertson had been in- 
jured, I was at the Ludlow depot with a mounted 
patrol, an enlisted man of Co. "K" 1st Infty. reported 
to me that he could show me the man who had placed 
the wire which had been the cause of Corpl. Cuthbert- 
son's injury and I had him point out the man, who I 
placed under arrest. 

The man did not resist arrest neither did I or any 
of my men strike him or in any way injure him or at- 
tempt to intimidate him, he told me that Louis Tikas, 
commonly called "Louie the Greek" knew him and 
could tell where he was during the day. 

I immediately placed Louie the Greek under ar- 
rest and asked him who this man was and where he 



104 



had been during the time the wire had been put in 
place and removed and he (Louie) denied any knowl- 
edge of the man, saying that he had never seen him be- 
fore — which he afterwards admitted was a lie. 

I then turned both men over to the Depot Guard, 
composed of men from Co. K 1st Infty., as prisoners, 
as I was and am now thoroughly satisfied that Louie 
the Greek ordered the wire placed across the road, 
and knows who did put it up. 

Louie the Greek has had the control of the 
Strikers Ludlow Colony since John K. Lawson admit- 
ted that he could not control the men in the colony 
after arming them, hfc, Louie, has repeatedly sent word 
indirectly to myself and men of my command that 
they — the Greeks in the strikers colony would kill 
every one of us when we were relieved from duty as 
members of the National Guard of Colorado. 

4. I know and every person who knows anything 
regarding military service knows that I have perfect 
control over my men and in sixteen years service, 
Regular, Volunteer and National Guard service, under 
this and other flags, I have always been able to con- 
trol my men. 

5. My deliberate purpose is not to cause blood- 
shed but to enforce the law against all outlaws, 
strikers in the Ludlow colony, Coal Barons murders 
or anyone else who violates either the law of Colo- 
rado or the United States as is my sworn duty. 

The sworn duty of either an officer or enlisted 
man in any army is obedience of orders from his su- 
perior and to uphold the laws and I have simply done 
my duty as a soldier. 



105 



6. John R. Lawson made the remark to Lt. 
Fisher Co. "K" 2nd Infty that he would gel me yet. 
This from a member of the committee who signed the 
telegram to Gov. Ammons. 

(Signed) K. E. LINDERFELT. 



N 

REPORTS— JASSINSKY INCIDENT 

1 
REPORT 

Trinidad, Colo., February 13th, 1913. 

From : Captain Ed. A. Smith, 
To : The Commanding General. 

Subject : Investigation of Jassinski complaint against 
Sergeant Arnold. 

1. Pursuant to your order of February 13th, I 
proceeded on the nine o'clock C. & C. Train to Forbes 
Junction, where I was met by Captain Ainsley and 
orderly and taken to camp at Forbes. I then inter- 
viewed Captain Ainsely, Sergeant Arnold, Lieutenant 
dinger, and several of the enlisted men. They all 
spoke of the high character of Sergeant Arnold, of 
the fact that to their knowledge, and they were in a 
position to have knowledge, that he had not made any 
showing of having any extra money or had there been 
anything unusual about his demeanor since the act 
complained of. Sergeant Arnold told a very straight- 
forward story, completely at variance with the story 
told by the young man when in the Judge Advocate's 
Office. 



106 



2. When I had finished interviewing the man at 
Forbes, I procnred horse and accompanied by Ser- 
geant Arnold rode to the ranch of the people who made 
the complaint. I looked at the trunks said to have 
been broken up. There were three thunks in the room, 
all of which the Sergeant informs me he examined, 
but of which the young boy says he only examined 
one and broke that open with a hatchet. The Ser- 
geant claims the three trunks were unlocked and he 
examined all of them. The woman and boy showed 
me the trunk which they claim the Sergeant broke 
into, using a hatchet, which I examined very closely 
and was unable to see any evidence whatsoever of 
the trunk having been broken open — there being no 
marks or scratches such as would have been made 
if the trunk had been broken into, as alleged, with 
a hatchet. The young boy was considerably mixed in 
his story that he told at the office of the Judge Advo- 
cate, when he told it at the house, and seemed to be 
inclined to answer "Yes" to most any question which 
was asked that would look bad for the Sergeant. 

3. After finishing my investigation at the com- 
plainant's house, I rode on to the tent colony about 
three quarters of a mile nearer town, where the Ser- 
geant had been just prior to the time that the visit 
was made to this complainant's house. There I saw 
the leader of the colony, also the subleader and sev- 
eral other members of the Suffield Colony. They 
talked very freely to me and informed me that the 
Sergeant had been most careful and courteous in his 
treatment of them when he searched the colony, and 
when I asked them if he gave any indication of hav- 
ing been under the influence of liquor, each and every 
man in the colony that I spoke to informed me that 



107 



he was perfectly and strictly sober when he was at 
the colony. The leaders of the colony gave a great 
deal of complaint against this family, stating that the 
boy and on one or two occasions had a knife in his 
possession, boasted he was a scab and had made threats 
against the children of the colony people ; that the man 
Jassinski, who lives at this ranch, had made a great 
many threats toward the men in the colony, boasting 
that he is a non-union man and had threatened to kill 
them ; that on several occasions he had taken a gun 
in his hands, called them scabs, and told them he would 
kill them. They also complained about a great deal 
of shooting going on at this man's house. All of them 
seemed unanimously of the opinion he still had arms, 
claiming positively he still has a revolver; and from 
all I am told I am strongly of the belief that the cart- 
ridges which they picked up and mentioned in ser- 
geant's Arnold's report are cartridges for the revolver 
which is still in his possession. 

4. Captain Insley, when I was at his camp, in- 
formed me that he had taken up a 22 rifle from these 
people, and that the boy pointed out a house about a 
mile and a half from the house occupied by complain- 
ant in this matter, where he claims there are a con- 
siderable number of rifles hidden. Captain Insley 
informed me he had this information from three other 
sources, and was strongly of the belief he would find 
rifles there if he was authorized to search the place 
in a thorough manner. 

5. After finishing my interview with the people 
at the tent colony, I proceeded on to Trinidad, Ke- 
porting to the Commanding General in person at 2 :15 
February 14th, 1913. 



108 

6. I am enclosing herewith copy of the statements 
made to the Judge Advocate's Office, by the woman 
and boy in this matter; also returning the report of 
Captain Insley and Sergeant Arnold. 

(Signed) ED. A. SMITH. 
(Encs. four.) 



STATEMENT 

February 13, 1914. 

Gustav Sninsky — 11 years old. Live on ranch on 
D. & OR. G. Tracks, one half mile North of Suffield 
Colony. On Tuesday, February 3d, 1914, about four 
o'clock P. M., my brothers and sister and myself were 
playing in the bed room, and a soldier came to the 
kitchen door and opened it and walked in and asked 
if we had any rifles. I answered "No," and he said 
there was a 22 hanging on the Jwall and he took it 
down from the wall, saying have you got any more. 
I said no, and he then took the hatchet and broke the 
lock on a trunk in the room. I told him not to open 
the trunk and he commenced to throw out the clothes 
and found ten or eleven cartridges (30-40), and he 
then asked where the rifle was, and I told him I had 
no rifle, and when I told him not to go into the trunk 
he chased us out into the kitchen, kicked me and my 
brother in the back and my sister in the elbow and 
another sister in the nose. He threw our clothes out 
of the trunk and mattress on the bed, threw the sew- 
ing machine over. When he threw the clothes out of 



109 



the trunk he took a hand bag out of the sleeve of a coat 
in the bottom the trunk and took bills, silver and 
gold out of the hand bag and put it in his pocket, 
and threw the hand bag under the bed. He then looked 
all around the room and went into the kitchen and 
seached there. He opened a cupboard, took some eggs 
from it and broke and ate some and broke some on 
the floor. He then went out to a buggy that was close 
to the house with a man sitting in it and tried to get 
into it. He fell down twice while trying to get into 
it, and then got in. The man in the buggy had some 
beer and was drunk. The man that was in the house 
had a bottle whiskey in his pocket that he drank from 
while in the house, and when the man got in the buggy 
he said to the other man I got a 22 and some bullets. 
He then started the horse and went down along the 
D. & R. G. tracks towards Forbes. The man in the 
buggy had glasses on his eyes, mustache and brown 
short whiskers on his chin. 



STATEMENT 

Victoria Jasnski. Came home about 4.30. Found 
children crying, and husband went into the house. 
I went into the house and found bed mussed, pillow 
and mattres on floor, trunk open and everything on 
floor, found hand bag under the bed with 2 little rings 
and a bracelet in it. The kitchen dishes were broken 
on the floor, eggs on the floor, and very bad, dirty. 

Mrs. Waldron. Red 382. Bowen. Husband runs 
a saloon. 



110 

4 
REPORT 

Camp at Forbes, February 11, 1914. 

From : Captain H. E. Insley. 
To : Commanding Officer, M. D. C. 
Subject: Conditions at Forbes and surrounding ter- 
ritory. 

1. The Commanding Officer of this Camp went 
to Trinidad Monday for the purpose of appearing 
before a Notary and attend to papers pertaining to 
a mortgage on his home. He drove in accompanied 
by duty Sergeant H. A. Arnold. Signed said papers 
and proceeded to Camp Forbes Tuesday morning Feb- 
ruary 10. 

2. In line with orders given him by Captain E. 
A. Smith of the military commission, the colony at 
Suffield was visited, searched, and inspected. Seventy 
Three men are in said colony. There was no trouble 
the strike leaders being most courteous. One revolver 
and one shot gun was found. Information reaches 
me there are at one of the near by ranch houses, 50 
rifles hidden. It was believed these rifles were at the 
home of a known strike sympathizer near the Tent 
Colony. Said house was searched by Sergeant Ar- 
nold, Captain Insley sitting in the buggy. 

3. One 11 year old boy accompanied by his little 
sisters were with the Sergeant during the search. 
Three trunks were found the lids lifted and one 22 
cal. rifle was found also some 38-40 cal. shells were 
found. The boy suggested where probably the 50 rifles 
were hidden at a ranch house several miles away. 



Ill 



4. It was not deemed wise to attempt to get said 
rifles when there was but two of us to make the search. 

5. There absolutely was no money found in the 
house. Sergeant Arnold who searched the premises 
is one of my oldest and best non-commissioned officers. 
Under no circumstances would he take money. It is 
my belief the* striker who claimed to have lost $200.00, 
makes this statement, simply for a supposed effect. 

HARRY E. INSLEY, 

Captain 1st. Infantry, 
Commanding Co. "B." 



5 
REPORT 

Camp at Forbes. 

From : Sergeant H. A. Arnold, 
To: Commanding Officer, M. D. C. 
Subject: Searching of tent colony and ranch house 
at Suffield. 

Captain Insley and I, Serg't Arnold went into 
the town of Trinidad in a one-horse buggy. Captain 
Insley having some legal papers to attend to. 

The Captain and I started for Forbes on the 
morning of the tenth at 11 :30 o'clock, arrived at 
Bowen at 12 :15 o'clock, where we asked a civilian who 
seems to know all about the strikers, to go with us he 
declined. 

The Captain and I under his, the captain's orders, 
proceeded to the Tent Colony, driving the horse on 



112 



the south side of the Colony where a cut 10 feet deep 
separated us from the tent colony. I tied the horse 
to a fence-post and acting under Captain Insley's or- 
ders, I got over the ditch and into the strikers colony 
about 20 men were there to meet me when I arrived. I 
asked for the leader and they told me he was in Lud- 
low, I then asked for the second leader w.ho proved to 
be Ben Freeman. I told him the Captain would like 
to see him and the Captain interviewed him. He 
turned. I, under the captain's orders went back to 
camp with him ? I told him I wanted all the guns he 
and his men had they willfully produced 1 shot-gun 
this was the property of Andy Marsello, and a nickel 
plated 32 cal. revolver this belonging to Ben Free- 
man. 

I then asked Ben Freeman to go through every 
tent with me Avhile I made a search he did. The 
strikers who are mostly Slavs were very courteous to 
the Captain and I and we stayed about one and one- 
half hours with them. 

The Captain and I then proceeded north and went 
to the ranch house where firearms were said to be by 
both strikers and saloonkeeper at Bowen, the Captain 
sat in the buggy while I went into the home, a boy of 
about 11 to 12 years old was in the house with 3 
smaller sisters, the boy watched me make the search, 
3 trunks were looked into by me in one was about 
10-38-40 cl. revolver shells which I confiscated also a 
22 cal. rifle. 

The boy pointed out two other houses where 
many guns are supposed to be either hidden in the 
house or nearby. 



113 



We tlieii continued our journey on to Forbes ar- 
riving at about 3 :45 o'clock that evening, all the 
searching was in broad day light on the Tenth of 
February, 1913. 

SGT. EL A. ARNOLD, 

Co. "B," 1st Infantry. 



REPORT— ALLEGED INTERRUPTION OF 
FUNERAL 

STATEMENT OF WARD J. WATSON MADE IN 
REGARD TO THE ALLEGED BREAKING- 
UP OF FUNERAL PROCESSION ON MAIN 
STREET, TRINIDAD, COLORADO 

On the day of this occurrence I was going to the 
San Rafael Military Camp, Trinidad, Colorado, act- 
ing as Chauffeur for General Chase, when I encoun- 
tered on the way a funeral procession. Right at the 
foot of the hill as you enter the military camp I 
reached the rear end of the aforesaid funeral proces- 
sion. When arriving at the rear end of the procession I 
attempted to pass by them without in any way molest- 
ing or interfering with them, but as I approached 
some called to me "Baldwin-Feltz Thug" others Scab- 
Herding Son-of-a-bitch, at the same time attempting 
to board the automobile. Realizing if they succeeded 
in getting on the automobile they might do me bodily 
violence, I pulled my six shooter from my pocket, and 
as one of these men got on the car I struck at him, 
knocking him off the car. I did not hit him where I 



114 



aimed on account of having to guide the car and strike 
at him with my unused hand. I then turned the car 
into the middle of the procession and ran the car 
through the procession, turning out which I reached 
the procession of buggies and cabs. I then swung 
to the side of the buggies, cabs, and the hearse, 
and went on into the military camp. I would have 
gone on by the procession without in any manner 
interfering with them, but when they called me these 
names, and attempted to get on the automobile, I felt 
it was necessary for me to protect myself and took 
this means to accomplish my purpose. I in no other 
manner than as above described interfered with the 
procession, and it went on its way after I passed by 
the men marching in the procession. 

(Signed) WARD J. WATSON. 



TELEGRAM TO THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED 

STATES 

I am directed by the Governor of Colorado to in- 
form the President of the United States that one Mary 
Jones, alias "Mother" Jones, is and always has been 
at entire liberty to leave the disturbed district, but 
insists upon remaining, avoAvedly to make incendiary 
speeches. She is confined with comfort in a pleasant 
room in a large church hospital, as a necessary peace 
precaution, in view of her history elsewhere. March 
8 a non-union miner was atrociously murdered near 
the union tent colony at Forbes in the strike zone, to 
which colony the murderers were easily tracked. This 



115 



murder was significant just at this time. At the 
urgent request of the sheriff, all of the inhabitants of 
this small colony were arrested — sixteen men. There 
were no women or children. The tents were ordered 
removed, to forestall further outlawry. 

Colorado has maintained peace and preserved its 
constitution and laws with its own patriotic volunteer 
militia, thankless, self-sacrificing, patiently, silent un- 
der abuse. The silence that military rule and neces- 
sity enjoin I am directed to break, that the President 
may be advised. 

(Signed) JOHN CHASE, 

Brigadier General, 
Commanding the Military District of Colorado. 



Q 

REPORT— LABOR COMMISSIONERS 

OFFICE OF COMMANDING OFFICER 
COMPANY B, FIRST INFANTRY 

Forbes, Colo., February 9, 1914. 

To : Major Williams, camp at Trinidad, Colorado. 
Subject: Labor Commissioners. 

On the morning of the 1th of January, two men 
drove up to the Sentry on post at the Mine Office at 
Forbes and asked permission to inspect conditions of 
the camp. 

They told him that they were State Labor Com- 
missioners giving their names and wanted permission 
to inspect the camp; the sentry telephoned to head- 
quarters asking what to do. I told him to send them 
to headquarters which he did. 



116 



One of them named Gross claimed to be a State 
Labor Commissioner and with his deputy were in- 
specting- the mining camps. 

After giving them dinner, I telephoned Mr. 
Nichols the Superintendent of Forbes Camp asking 
him if he wanted to let them in, he did not know who 
they were but told me to send them to him first, 
which I. did sending a guard with them. He then 
telephoned me that he did not know who they were. 

I then telephoned Major Williams asking his 
orders in regard to them. Major Williams ordered 
them to be put out of camp instantly and to be kept 
out; stating at the same time that they had no right 
to inspect the camp or to interview the men, and ask- 
ing me if I understood my instructions in regard to 
handling them. 

I immediately sent a man on horseback to bring 
them in, he found them Avaiting near the mine to 
interview the miners when they came off shift. 

Upon being brought back to headquarters they 
expressed surprise at being ordered to quit the camp 
after being let in but would leave under protest. 

I told them that I had orders to that effect and 
they got into their buggy and drove out, the guard 
at the gate being instructed to see that they did not 
return. 

Kesp. Yours 

(Signed) H. W. OLINGER, 

and Lieut. 1st. Infantry. 
Copy to General Chase. 



117 



RECOMMENDATION OF GRAND JURY, CONTAINED 
IN ITS REPORT TO THE DISTRICT COURT OF 
LAS ANIMAS COUNTY, FEBRUARY, 1914 

Fifth, That our investigations of the Industrial 
Disturbances, growing out of the recent labor trou- 
bles, has led the Grand Jury to believe that it is 
absolutely necessary to have the State militia sta- 
tioned in this county, in order to protect life and 
property. 

We feel that the withdrawal of the militia from 
this district at this time, would be very unwise. 

It is the opinion of the Grand Jury, that the 
State troops, should be kept in this district until the 
present coal miners strike has been settled, or some 
agreement reached between the striking miners and 
the coal operators, that would insure the good citi- 
zens of this county, a speedy return of the conditions 
that prevailed before the calling of the present strike. 



s 

RESOLUTION 

HOUSE RESOLUTION 387 



January 27, 1914. 

Resolved, That the House Committee on Mines 
and Mining is hereby authorized and directed to make 
a thorough and complete investigation of the condi- 
tions existing in the coal fields in the counties of 
Las Animas, Huerfano, Fremont, Grand, Routt, 



118 



Boulder, Weld, and other counties in the State of 
Colorado; and in and about the copper mines in the 
counties of Houghton, Kewaanew, and Ontonagon, in 
the State of Michigan, for the purpose of ascertain- 
ing— 

First. Whether or not any system of peonage 
lias been or is being maintained in said coal or cop- 
per fields. 

Second. Whether or not postal services and 
facilities have been or are being interfered with or 
obstructed in said coal or copper fields; and if so, 
by whom. 

Third. Whether or not the immigration laws 
of this country have been or are being violated in said 
coal or copper fields; and if so, by whom. 

Fourth. Investigate and report all facts and cir- 
cumstances relating to the charge that citizens of the 
United States have been arrested, tried, or convicted 
contrary to or in violation of the Constitution or the 
laws of the United States. 

Fifth. Investigate and report whether the con- 
ditions existing in said coal fields in Colorado and in 
said copper fields in Michigan have been caused by 
agreements and combinations entered into contrary 
to the laws of the United States for the purpose of 
controlling the production, sale, and transportation 
of the coal and copper of these fields. 

Sixth. Investigate and report whether or not 
firearms, ammunition, and explosives have been 
shipped into the said coal and copper fields, with the 
purpose to exclude the products of the said fields 
from competitive markets in interstate trade; and if 
so, by whom and by whom paid for. 



119 



Seventh. If any or all of these conditions exist, 
the causes leading up to said conditions. 

Said committee or any subcommittee thereof is 
hereby empowered to sit and act during the session or 
recess of Congress, or either House thereof, at such 
time and place as it may deem necessary; to require 
bv subpoena or otherwise the attendance of witnesses, 
and the production of papers, books, and documents ; 
to employ stenographers and such other clerical as- 
sistance as may be necessary. The chairman of the 
committee or any member thereof may administer 
oaths to witnesses. 

Attest : 

SOUTH TRIMBLE, 

Clerk. 



LBFe'15 



in 



